


Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team Iris

by Feenie



Series: Team Iris AU [1]
Category: Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types, Rockman.EXE | Mega Man Battle Network
Genre: AU where Iris is commander in BN5, Borrows the Shadow 'thing' idea from the Pokemon Orre games, Cross Fusion, Dark Chips, Gen, How to be a Dick 101 by Regal, I may be going for a record in how much of the classic timeline I try to reference, Implied/Referenced Torture, Psychological Torture, Spoilers, Uses a few anime elements, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-07
Updated: 2015-06-22
Packaged: 2018-02-24 10:19:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 40,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2577998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feenie/pseuds/Feenie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A simple little AU where Iris leads the team in Battle Network 5, with some dark chip goodness thrown in for good measure. 16 people have been kidnapped around the world, including Lan's father, and it's up to him, a mysterious girl working against Nebula, and characters forgotten by Capcom in the series to stop Dr. Regal and his insidious scheme.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was created a while ago, I admit the writing isn't...the best, but stick with me on this AU.

Lan had heard of the mysterious disappearances across the world, and no matter how hard he tried to ignore them, hearing the people who had gone missing made him feel worried.

First it was Princess Pride and someone named Tesla Magnus, who Lan could only assume was related to the Gospel Operator he fought a while ago. Then it was Higsby and Laika—someone was running the battle chip store in Higsby’s place, but it wasn’t quite the same hearing a different Navi instead of Numberman.

Things just seemed to get worse, as Ribitta was suddenly spirited away while reporting a girl named Jasmine being kidnapped. Her sudden disappearance happening on screen made people reluctant to go outside in fear their loved one would vanish.

It was hard for Lan not to want to go out and search when Chaud was suddenly kidnapped. From what he could gather, he was asking for cooperation from Netopia and Sharo in finding the missing people, only for power to be lost for hardly more than a few minutes. When it came back on, he had disappeared.

Even worse was the fact none of the Navis had been left alone—all those kidnapped seemed to have their PETs taken as well. Both Lan and Megaman grew nervous, fearing Mayl, Dex, and Yai would be next.

He turned out to be right. His father had wanted to show the four something, only for all of them to be knocked out by sleeping gas. When Lan woke up, scientists he wasn’t familiar with were questioning him in a panic about what had happened.

Lan was frightened. He wasn’t sure who to turn to in fear they might vanish as well…

A few days later, a problem of some sorts had started in SciLabs. Against his better judgement, Lan hurried to SciLabs to try to fix the problem, only to discover it was a test from a brown-haired girl that couldn’t have been older than Lan himself. She seemed a bit shy at first glance.

"You are…Lan Hikari, correct?"

"Y-Yes?"

The girl extended her hand.

"I am Iris. You’ve lost several people close to you, and I would like to help you get them back."

"H-How can I trust you?" Lan found himself asking. This girl could have very easily been behind the kidnappings, which worried him. But…she seemed so innocent, and yet she was able to stage a test like this…

Iris retracted her her hand, responding, “I understand your hesitance. Given the past few weeks, it’s hard to trust anyone. However, unlike everyone else, I know who is behind the kidnappings.”

Lan swore his heart stopped for a moment before he cautiously asked, “Who…Who’s behind the kidnappings?”

"Do you remember a man by the name of Dr. Regal?"

Lan’s eyes widened. No. No, he couldn’t be alive, Lan had seen him fall to his death! No one could have fallen like that and lived…

"…how…how is he alive?!" he shouted.

"He faked his death, as he knew it would be better if he dropped off the news. Regal had a plan that spanned beyond Duo’s appearance…and I’m afraid he’s close to achieving what he wants. A total of 16 people have been kidnapped, and it’s 12 of them that will give him the chance to harm the world," Iris explained, sadly.

"What’s he planning to do? H…How could he…"

"That, I only have a vague idea of…however, I can say it is related to the dark chips. He wouldn’t want to just waste them, now…"

"Lan, he may be planning to force the people kidnapped to use dark chips to corrupt their Navis!" Megaman guessed.

"If that’s so…we can’t waste any time! Iris, where are they?" Lan questioned.

"I’m afraid I can’t pinpoint exactly where Regal is keeping them. As he took their Navis as well, it’s not as though I can simply look for their Navis and discover where they were last jacked-in from…”

Iris sighed weakly. “Forgive me, but it will take a day or two for me to figure out something. In the mean time, Lan, please get some rest.”

Lan reluctantly nodded, head lowered.

"Um…please don’t look so down. I know, it’s not a pleasant situation, but please don’t lose hope here," Iris asked of the Netbattler.

"I-I’ll try. See you tomorrow, then…"

Lan exited the room, Iris watching him leave.

"…just give me a little time…I’ll find you, brother, I promise…”

—

Yuichiro struggled to wake up. His body felt like lead…to make things worse, he couldn’t move, could barely see…

"Nice to see you’re awake."

That voice couldn’t have belonged to anyone else but a Netopian. Yuichiro struggled to raise his head, spotting a dark-haired man with a military-patterned coat draped over him, chained up just across from the scientist. The man seemed about his 30’s, an air of authority about him.

Yuichiro himself was strapped in a chair that vaguely reminded him of a dentist’s chair, his arms and legs secured so he couldn’t escape. At the moment, nothing was keeping his head pinned down, so there was a plus…

"…where are we? And who are you?" Yuichiro asked.

"Some sort of room that I wouldn’t doubt we’ll be tortured in. As for the actual location, I know about as much as you do," the man admitted, shrugging. "I’m Baryl, by the way."

"…I’m Yuichiro Hikari. Who had kidnapped us…?"

"I have a guess or two as to who could have done it, but…I’d really like to not be right here."

Baryl grimaced. “It could very easily be Dr. Regal, even though he supposedly faked his death…Wily isn’t the person to kidnap so many people.”

"Perhaps. I wonder, why keep us in a cell together…"

"Special torture prisoners, perhaps? Regal isn’t someone you should trust, I wouldn’t doubt he has something planned."

A low chuckle made the two freeze.

"Now, now, I don’t think you should refer to your own brother as so untrustworthy."

Regal entered the room, a smirk on his face.

"Family? Baryl, are you—"

"I’m adopted. Which I’m glad I am because I never wanted a brother like him,” Baryl responded, glaring at Regal.

"You weren’t a joy to be around, either," Regal calmly retorted before taking out a small stack of purple and black chips. Yuichiro vaguely recalled his son talking about dark chips, horrible creations that corrupted Navis…

"I’m almost sorry I have to do this. Almost. But seeing as Baryl is the only one with a PET on him…”

"You…You wouldn’t dare…" Baryl began, eyes wide with horror. Yuichiro’s heart sank as he got a bad idea of what was going to happen.

Regal walked towards Baryl, looking down at him with a sort of insane glee.

"Oh…but I would."


	2. Chapter 2

Iris looked a little drained when Lan reported to SciLabs the following day. The brunette was typing away at the compuster console in front of her almost mechanically, a pink-and-green PET plugged in.

"Iris?" Lan called, concerned.

Iris paused, then looked up, not having noticed Lan was there.

"Oh…forgive me, I was busy trying to pinpoint where you should start your search. Princess Pride of Creamland and Tesla Magnus were both spotted last on Oran Island. It’s known for the mysterious MagnoMetal, which was harvested for several years. The mines are abandoned now, so please be careful exploring the mines," she explained.

"Don’t worry, I will! I’ve been in dangerous places before, Iris!" Lan assured, smiling brightly.

Iris nodded, stifling a yawn. “Mhm…I also looked into your father’s notes. He was planning on introducing something called crossfusion to you and your friends…”

"Crossfusion?"

"Yes."

Iris held up a blue computer chip with a green orb in the center. “Using this, a Synchro Chip, crossfusion allows a NetNavi and their Operator to merge, creating a body with two consciousnesses. It requires something called a Dimensional Area as well, as obviously a NetNavi can’t exist in the real world.”

She paused and looked down. “However…he wrote down that he was hesitant to introduce it to you. I couldn’t find any reason why, but…Lan, as much as I do not want to go against him, I fear this might be our only way of fighting against Nebula.”

Lan froze slightly at the mention of his dad not wanting to introduce crossfusion to him. He knew why, but he wasn’t sure if he should tell Iris.

"Maybe he’s just overprotective? I know he’s sort of like that…" Megaman weakly suggested.

Iris could only nod. “Give me a few hours…I need to set up the Dimensional Area. He left only the bare minimum of information about it.”

"Alright!"

Lan couldn’t help but ask, “I see your PET…is it okay if I see your Navi?”

Iris reluctantly agreed, displaying her Navi on the screen behind her. The Navi seemed of indistinguishable gender, cloaked in blue from head to toe. Four pink buttons decorated the chest, and a helmet with a yellow top obscured their eyes and any possible hair. It reminded Lan quite a bit of Megaman.

"This is Ballade.EXE. I’ve had them for a year or two now."

"It’s nice to meet you, Ballade! I’m Lan Hikari, and this is my NetNavi, Megaman!" Lan greeted, holding up his PET. Ballade, much to his disappointment, only nodded.

"Forgive them. I haven’t used my Navi for socalizing much," Iris explained.

"Maybe once everyone’s been rescued, I could talk with Ballade some?" Megaman offered.

"That…would be nice."

Iris stopped, then pointed out, “It will take me longer to set up the Dimensional Area at this rate, Lan. Please give me some time to set it up…”

Lan could only nod and walk away.

—

"…Baryl? Baryl, please say something…"

Yuichiro was horrified at what Regal had done. He had forced Baryl to use a dark chip, but something was just wrong at what had occured before him. Baryl screamed and writhed in pain before going eerily silent. The man was slumped against the wall he was chained to, head down. It had been several hours since Regal left them, mentioning something about beginning to search for information soon…which did not sound good…

A low growl suddenly left Baryl’s throat, and Yuichiro froze, heart racing. “Baryl? Baryl?!”

The growl stopped, and Baryl weakly raised his head. He looked ragged, a dull look in his eyes. Yuichiro resolved to never let his children ever use a dark chip if they wound up looking as bad as Baryl did at the moment.

"…I…sorry. I’m sorry…I-I’m okay at the moment. My body feels like crap…what is he planning to do to us…" the dark-haired man mumbled, half-heartedly.

"Nothing good. Baryl…I think I know why Regal kidnapped me. I was working on something that would allow Navis and their Operators to fight as one, but…"

"But?"

"…it’s still a work-in-progress. It’s useable, but not for a long period of time. I suspect it will only be a matter of time before…well…"

"…Regal’s not a fool, he wouldn’t dare…" Baryl began.

"Wouldn’t dare what?"

Baryl froze as Regal entered the room, a knowing look in his eyes. How much had he overheard?

"What do you want now?" Baryl questioned, looking like he was going to shrink against the wall.

"Oh, just to confirm that what I happened to hear involved just what I wanted to hear. Let’s not play any games now, Yuichiro," Regal answered, turning around to look at the captive scientist. "I know very well you mentioned something when we were working together, and I would like to know what it is now."

Yuichiro inwardly cursed himself for mentioning that—he had suspected Regal was up to something terrible, hence his choice to be somewhat vague, but if he had to say what it was, Lan would be in danger! He couldn’t dare reveal something that would endanger his family…

"I will never reveal what it is," Yuichiro responded, glaring at Regal.

"Never say never, now. I do have ways of making you talk, and I’ll get what I want, no matter what," Regal reminded, looming over the other.

Regal knew exactly what Yuichiro was talking about, having overheard the conversation outside the door, but he simply wanted to see the scientist in pain. He was planning on testing the first chips on Princess Pride and Tesla Magnus after he saw if Yuichiro would talk or not.

"Y…You won’t make me say a word, Regal!" Yuichiro protested, shrinking against the chair.

"Well now, that just won’t do," Regal decided, a smirk spreading across his face.

—

Iris watched as Lan entered the Dimensional Area set up for him to practice Crossfusion in. The NetOp seemed a little nervous, but optimistic about how the practice would go.

"Don’t try to force it, Lan. Just let it proceed naturally," Iris advised, slightly worried.

"I won’t! But…Iris, what if we can’t do it? It _is_ something Papa was hesitant to show to us…" Lan asked.

"Then we’ll figure something out," was all Iris could say. She could try to sneak away another Copybot, but she figured she was in enough trouble with Wily for stealing the prototype he had built.

"Alright…Synchro Chip, slot in!" Lan declared, inserting the Synchro Chip into the PET. A bright light shone, and Iris had to cover her eyes for a moment. Once the light died down, she looked back up at Lan. He had definitely changed—he was now wearing a near perfect copy of Megaman’s outfit. The helmet was slightly different, and Lan retained his brown eyes instead of taking on Megaman’s green eyes, but otherwise…

"It’s a success! Lan, Megaman, are you two okay?" Iris asked.

"We’re okay! This feels sort of weird, though…" Lan responded.

"It’s the first time you’re using Crossfusion, I think you two will get used to it in time. There doesn’t seem to be any complications of any sort…"

Iris gave a quiet sigh of relief. They were going to be okay, she reassured herself. They could stop Nebula with Crossfusion, her brother and their Operator were going to be saved, everything would be okay.

She continued to watch Lan practice Crossfusion, eventually practicing using Battle Chips. He seemed to be the best at using long-ranged weapons, choosing to keep his distance in a fight…Lan would not be an easy target for Nebula, that’s for sure.

"…alright, I think that’s enough for today. You’ll need your rest for tomorrow, Lan."

Lan nodded, coming out of Crossfusion and exiting the room, meeting back with her. “How am I going to get to Oran Island, though…?”

"I’ll have something for you by tomorrow, if all goes well. The island is due south…maybe a boat or helicopter…" Iris murmured.

"Oh! Yai had a yacht!…although I don’t know if her parents want me on it alone…" Lan suggested.

"Ask for permission. I would also tell your mother you’re helping a friend with something—I know, it’s not right to lie to parents, but I don’t know if she would approve of you going to an abandoned island with just your Navi and someone you’ve only known for a day or two," Iris pointed out, anticipating Lan’s disagreement.

Lan mulled it over before responding, “Well…if it’s to save everyone who’s been kidnapped…okay, I’ll report back with the news tomorrow!”

The NetOp scurried off, leaving Iris to continue whatever work she had alone.

—

Regal returned to his lab, sighing. Yuichiro had eventually spilled he had been working on Crossfusion, which he refused to say further about, but it took several dull hours, along with a little electrocution. A few peons were waiting for his next word, standing almost like statues.

"Begin Crossfusion testing on Princess Pride and Tesla Magnus. The Dark Synchro Chips should seal their heart further. Do not, however, try to kill them," Regal ordered to three of them. Those three nodded and hurried off. The remaining two looked up obediently at Regal.

"As for you two, how are plans on XD001?"

"Sir, the chip’s progress is straggling along. There’s only so much darkness it can hold before it breaks," one of the peons answered.

"Indeed. Sir, what should we do?" the other asked.

"Find a way to increase the chip’s capacity. I want his and his Navi’s hearts to be closed off to the point of no hope for them," Regal responded, sitting down in his chair.

"Yes, sir," the two peons responded before heading away. Regal glanced up at the monitors displaying his test subjects’ location. Princess Pride and Tesla Magnus had some fight left in them, protesting being dragged to the testing room.

"No, let go of me! Stop! STOP!"

"Creamland has done nothing to earn your ire! Let us go, please!"

Meanwhile, the others were huddled in their cells, frightened and still somewhat protesting their fates. A few were too scared to say anything, simply whimpering in pain or quietly apologizing to their Navis. Baryl and Yuichiro were too exhausted to say or do anything, not even talking to each other.

Everything seemed to be going according to plan.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone had helped me write the fight scene when I posted this on tumblr, so credit to her for helping me and I apologize that I can't really write fighting scenes.

Lan did not want to admit it to Iris, but the idea of exploring an old, abandoned island actually made him somewhat anxious. Had he been going here with Mayl, Dex and Yai, he wouldn’t have been nearly as worried about himself, but…

It took a lot of begging and pleading on his part, but he was able to get the yacht for the trip, Yai’s parents being slightly worried as to why he wanted to use the yacht. He could only hope they would take his word and not ask his mom…

Lan and Iris landed at Oran Isle in the afternoon, Lan looking at his surroundings in slight curiosity.

"So you think someone is here?" he asked.

"I was scanning the island, and it picked up two heat signatures. I don’t know who they are, but be careful. I’ll provide back-up as well as I can," Iris answered.

"Can’t you do Crossfusion?" Megaman questioned, curious. Iris winced and shook her head.

"…I tested last night. We…could not do it. Sometimes, Navis just aren’t compatible with their operators—Ballade is a great fighter, but we just couldn’t crossfuse."

"Oh…I’m sorry."

The two ventured out onto the island, Iris trailing behind Lan.

"…by the way, Iris…why do you want to stop Dr. Regal? I mean, it’s great you’re helping me and all, but what makes him a target for you?" the Operator asked.

"…well, someone important was taken from me by his hand. I want to stop him…I know how bad he was, I don’t want him to…"

Iris stopped, voice wavering. Lan recoiled, feeling bad. From how she spoke…had that ‘someone important’ been kidnapped or worse?

"H-Hey, it…it’s okay, alright? We’ll stop him! I won’t let him hurt anyone else again, I promise!" Lan swore.

"Th…Thank you…" Iris quietly thanked, continuing on. Lan could see she was trying to keep a brave face…he doubted she would be trying to manipulate him into doing something as bad as Mr. Match once did with a face like that, right?

Then again, there was Mamoru, who looked so young and innocent…and happened to be very connected to the Undernet. But he was a good person at heart…

Lan sighed quietly, feeling anxious. Iris was so mysterious, but she seemed more or less okay. Was he just worrying too much?

The mine came into view, and Lan couldn’t help but wonder just who was here. Chaud? Laika? Princess Pride?

"…wait."

Iris stopped Lan before grabbing a rock. She tossed it a few feet in front of them, and suddenly a large segment of the land collapsed. Lan peered down, surprised. He could hardly see the bottom…he likely would have broken a limb depending on how hard the ground below was.

"How did you…"

"This area is too open. Nebula has likely been here, I wouldn’t be surprised if they wanted to injure us if we had to fight them…" Iris responded, looking around before leading Lan onward. The mines seemed quite lonely, with not a soul in sight. Iris seemed to walk as though she had been there before—although, to be fair, that was highly likely. She seemed young, but she could easily be years older than him…

Lan shook his head. No, he should be preparing to fight, not worry about his helper! He just had to relax and prepare his Battle Chips…

"…Lan. We’re getting closer to where I last detected the heat signatures. I should have asked this earlier, but…"

Iris seemed to fumble with words for a few moments before asking, “I…I know you may be fighting friends while we combat Nebula. Lan…do you trust me?”

"Trust you?" Lan repeated, blinking in confusion.

"Yes. Do you trust my judgement in the event you fight someone you know and do not want to hurt?"

Lan hesitated. He had several people he wanted no part in fighting: Laika, Chaud, Mayl, Higsby, Ribitta…but he had to save the others! He was going to have to put aside his hesitance…although he didn’t want to make them think he was hurting them on purpose…no, they would understand. This was to help them.

"…I do. I’ll trust you as long as this goes well. They won’t be upset at me, will they?" Lan questioned.

"If what I suspect is true, they will understand," Iris answered, trying to sound reassuring.

The two continued on in silence, the air slowly starting to feel oppressive. Their opponents were close…or opponent, depending on what was to happen. Megaman and Ballade said nothing, which worried Lan further.

"…Megaman?" he quietly asked, taking out his PET.

"What is it, Lan?" Megaman responded. The blue Navi seemed just as worried for a brief moment before putting on a more cheerful face.

"Are you ready if we have to fight?"

"As ready as I’ll ever be. I’m sure things will be okay, Lan!"

"Right…!"

—

Iris and Lan eventually stepped into a large cavern, a giant drill lying disassembled nearby. A rather familiar blonde woman wearing rather plain clothing and an older woman with brown hair tied back into a ponytail and clothing that reminded Lan of magnets stood in the center of the room, matching bright red eyes glaring at Lan. Eerily enough, the two were smiling…

"Well, well, if it isn’t dear little Lan Hikari…aw, what’s that look on your face? Don’t you remember Creamland?" the blonde woman questioned, taking a step forward.

"Creamla…Princess Pride? You look so different…" Lan commented, slowly reaching for his PET.

"Of course I have! My kingdom is no longer what it was…but Knightman is stronger than ever! It may have cost me my heart, but I no longer fear defeat at your hands, Lan!" Pride responded.

"And what about her? Tesla Magnus, the daughter of of former Gospel member Gauss Magnus…" Iris questioned, a wary aura about her.

"I’m here because it’s your fault my father’s health is so horrible now! Ever since Gospel came apart, my father…he’s been growing sicker and sicker…I don’t want to lose him! It’s all your fault, Lan!"

Lan was taken aback—out of all of Gospel, he had really only kept in touch with Shun, the young Operator not mentioning how anyone else who had been in Gospel was doing. He knew they all had been punished for their actions, but was Gauss truly on the verge of death?

"Lan, take what they say with a grain of salt—they don’t seem to be in their right minds. They could have been fed false information while being corrupted," Iris warned.

"False information?" Pride repeated, frowning heavily.

"Master Regal would never give us false information! He helped us when we were at our lows! How dare you suggest that, you little brat!" Tesla denied.

Lan took a step closer to Iris, worried. “Just what did Nebula do to them?” he questioned.

"…Regal closed their hearts. As cheesy as it sounds…they are far from the people they are. Lan, I’m sorry, you’ll likely have to fight them…"

Lan grabbed his PET and a Synchro Chip. “Princess Pride, Tesla, if I have to, I’ll fight you both myself! I’ll undo what Regal did and save you both!” he swore.

The two ladies smirked at the sight of the Synchro Chip. “So you have a little toy of your own? And I thought we were just going to knock you out…” Tesla remarked.

Pride and Tesla each took out a Synchro Chip, but something was just off about it. For one, the orb was dark, the center almost looking cracked. Iris looked visibly unnerved at the sight of the chip, eyes widening.

"N…No, Regal couldn’t have…how? How did he make that?" she demanded to know, sounding frightened and angered.

"That’s a secret, little brat!" Tesla responded, taunting Iris as she flashed a devious smirk.

"I’m afraid you don’t have the upper hand after all, Hikari!" Pride pointed out, both Operators taking out their PETs. Lan could see Knightman and Magnetman in the PETs, both staring stoicly ahead. Knightman looked like he was rusting, while Magnetman took on a purple and silver color scheme, lacking any red on him save for his eyes.

Lan looked nervously back at Iris, who seemed furious at how the Navis looked. “To think this is his doing…! Lan, you need to stop them!” came the order.

Lan nodded, surprised at how Iris seemed to get angry about the Navis so quickly. A Dimensional Area formed around the four in the room, and Lan hurriedly slotted in his Synchro Chip, fusing with Megaman and getting into a battle stance. Pride was the quickest of the two in front of him to change, wearing some sort of mix of a red dress and armor, a mace at the ready and a knight’s visor covering her face. Tesla was wearing something Lan could only guess was a purple bodysuit with black lines winding around it, a silver shroud covering her top and gray gauntlets covering her wrists. A mouthguard and some sort of piece of armor with a magnet on it rested on her face and head.

The two opponents immediately dashed away, Tesla aiming her hands at Lan. He gave a shocked yelp as he was pulled towards Tesla by her magnets. He struggled to stray away from her pull, but was unable to in time, as Pride dashed up and smashed her mace against him, knocking him clear against the edge of the Dimensional Area. Iris gave a shocked gasp as Lan stumbled to get up and fight.

'Lan! Are you okay?' Megaman's voice sounded in his head.

'I'm fine, but…we need a way to knock them out! It should be easy enough, right?' Lan silently asked back.

'Right. Use that magnetic pull to your advantage. Once Tesla's knocked out…'

'…I can just run circles around Pride! Right? Knightman wasn't the fastest, but he can hold out longer than Magnetman…'

'We'll just have to strike quick and hard. You've fought them before, this should be easy!'

Lan was pulled back towards Tesla, and he readied a Long Sword chip to use. Tesla’s eyes widened at the chip and tried to fall back, stopping her magnetic pull on Lan, but she was too late. The NetOp dashed towards her, slashing at her. The attack hit the Navi emblem on her chest, and it shattered.

Tesla gave a scream of pain as she was forcibly de-fused fom her Navi, falling to the ground with the PET landing on top of her. Iris ran over and dragged Tesla away.

"Keep it up! I’ll make sure Tesla doesn’t try to get back into the fight!" the girl cheered on. Lan nodded and looked at Pride, who actually seemed worried Tesla had fallen in battle. Was the dark chip’s hold not as strong as he had thought it was?

Lan took this chance to prepare another Long Sword, charging at the Crossfused princess. She snapped to attention and blocked it with her mace, gritting her teeth.

"Princess! You weren’t completely taken over by the dark chip, were you?! I know you’re in there, you have to fight it!" Lan encouraged, praying he could end this fight peacefully.

"Ngh…s-shut up! I can’t…I can’t afford to lose to you again! Creamland needs to survive…!" Pride tried to argue, raising a hand to her head. Her resolve was beginning to weaken! If he could just push past her defense and attack the emblem…

With a growl, Pride broke the clash of their weapons and swung her mace, Lan getting knocked to the side with a pained cry before he got up again, dismissing the Long Sword chip and switching to the Megabuster, trying to get a clear shot at the Emblem.

"You don’t have to do this, Princess!" Iris called. "We can help you! You don’t have to use the dark chip’s power to help your country!"

"I…I have to! I need to! Creamland…it’s beginning to fall apart…if its rulers can’t be strong, then it will only get worse! I need this power to keep it together!" Pride retorted, voice wavering.

"Lan, now!"

Lan fired, scoring a direct hit and destroying the emblem. Pride stiffened, then fell to the ground, reverting to normal. Her PET landed in front of her, and with that the Dimentional Area disappeared, Lan and Megaman un-fusing. Iris walked over to Pride.

"…I wonder, is Creamland in such a bad state? I’ll have to check…" the brunette mumbled before trying to drag Pride out of the area.

"Er…you’re going to carry them out by yourself?" Lan asked.

"Well…I do need help. Can you carry those PETs, then help me carry her and Tesla back to the ship?" Iris admitted.

Lan nodded and pocketed the PETs before helping Iris carry the two ladies out.

—

Regal stepped into the room holding Baryl and Yuichiro as prisoners. Baryl seemed to be just waking up, grimacing at the site of his adopted brother. Yuichiro was still asleep, a worried look on his face.

"What do you want?" Baryl questioned.

"It’s time for your daily dark chip—and once that’s over, you’ll be moved to a seperate cell. Wouldn’t want to risk my source of information being mauled by my little ace in the hole," Regal responded, grinning at the fear in Baryl’s eyes as he tried to back away, still chained to the wall.

"No…no, you…you stay away from me, you sick little—"

"Ah ah ah, temper. I thought that came in on the third use, not the first."

A few peons charged into the room, grabbing ahold of Baryl. The dark-haired man struggled, but nonetheless felt his hands grip his PET, Colonel residing in it. The armored Navi was trying to protest what Nebula was doing to them, only for him to be muted.

"Colonel, I’m sorry…" Baryl began before the dark chip was forced into his hands. The operator could feel the pulse of power from it beckoning him to use it. Had he been given a choice, he would have crushed the damn thing without a second thought.

He shut his eyes as the peons forced him to slot in the dark chip, gritting his teeth as he felt the power pulse through him. It felt comforting at first, a voice in his head trying to get him to submit to the power, but he just couldn’t! Not while he could fight!

He couldn’t, however, deny how it was beginning to affect him. It felt as though a fog was beginning to settle in his head, thinking becoming a bit harder. His body convulsed, pain shooting throughout his body. He could tell Colonel was in agony, the dark chip corrupting his Navi more and more…

The power finally seemed to stop getting into Baryl. He weakly opened his eyes, feeling drained. Regal freed him from his cuffs, the peons dragging him out of his cell and into another room. He looked helplessly at Yuichiro, the scientist looking upset at being unable to help Baryl.

He was eventually dragged in a small room, too dark for him to make out any details in. Baryl was unceremoniously tossed in, PET landing beside him. The door was shut, and Baryl groped the nearby ground for his PET, looking at Colonel in worry. To his dismay, his Navi was beginning to show more visible signs of change. The areas around his hands and feet were turning a dark purple, the white armor beginning to turn yellow. Colonel’s sword was starting to look a little blue…

"…I’m sorry. I…I wouldn’t dare do thi—"

"I know, Baryl. I don’t blame you. It…It’s getting harder to keep a steady mind," Colonel admitted, head lowered. Baryl held the PET close to him, worry bubbling in his thoughts. What was Regal going to do to him? Make him into some sort of monster? Torture him for anything Wily might’ve told him while Regal was in Nation Z?

He shut his eyes, trying to get some rest for whatever was ahead.


	4. Chapter 4

Lan was exhausted once he had gotten home. The fighting took a lot more out of him than he thought—he barely had any energy to eat, get into his pajamas, and hook Megaman’s PET up to the charger before he curled up in bed, sleeping soundly.

"Lan! Lan, wake up already, Iris sent a message!"

Lan blinked sleepily, sitting up as he yawned.

"Five more minutes…"

"Lan, you’ve slept in for an hour, I think you’ve had enough sleep!" Megaman pointed out. Lan gave in and chose to look at the message.

'Lan:

Meet me at SciLabs as soon as possible. We’ll begin working on opening Princess Pride and Tesla’s hearts today.’

Lan gave a sigh of relief. Good, he didn’t like seeing Pride like that.

Once he was dressed and ready, he headed over to SciLabs.

—

Iris seemed hardly awake herself as Lan entered the room she was using to house Pride and Tesla. Neither Operator seemed conscious, and their Navis were offline.

"Iris? You look like you’ve been up all night…" Lan noticed, a note of concern in his voice. Iris shook her head.

"I’ll be fine. I’ve been looking for ways to fully open up their hearts. Right now, it seems the princess is trying to fight the dark chip’s effects the most…can you try to convince her heart to open up more while I figure out what to do with Tesla?" she asked.

"Won’t she attack me again?" Lan asked, looking at the PETs nervously.

"No, I confiscated all of their chips. I handed a Dark Synchro Chip over to the scientists to look at, while the other…might have met with a terrible fate."

Lan looked around the room and saw the remains of a crushed Dark Synchro Chip in a corner. The mental image of Iris angrily crushing the chip as hard as she could under the heel of her shoe came to mind, and he restrained himself from laughing.

He carefully approached Princess Pride. “Princess? Princess Pride of Creamland, wake up…”

Pride slowly opened her eyes, looking blearily at Lan. Her eyes were a dull red, and she seemed despondant, almost as though she was resigning herself to whatever fate was awaiting her.

"…what do you want?" she questioned.

"I’m going to help you get over the effects of the dark chip. Pride…Iris said you were still in there, and I know it."

Pride scoffed, looking to the side. “I don’t see the point in helping me. What kind of ruler am I? I can’t even defeat you with a dark chip…oh, Creamland, my poor country…”

Lan sat in front of her, taking out his PET. “What’s going on in Creamland? What did Regal tell you?”

The princess furrowed her brow, trying to remember. “…starvation. Problems with everyone accessing the Net…some sort of illness was spreading…”

Lan searched for any news on those topics. To his relief, the only articles he found on Creamland were about Pride’s kidnapping—save for a few criminals, Creamland looked okay.

"…Regal was either lying or there’s something else entirely going on. Princess, it’ll be oka—"

"H-He couldn’t have lied!" Pride interrupted, eyes wide. Her eyes regained a shine to them, much to Lan’s surprise.

"He…He said…people were dying…everything was falling apart without me….how? How?"

Lan looked up any articles on what had happened after Princess Pride was kidnapped while she was insisting nothing was okay. A government official that was trusted throughout the kingdom was keeping the country safe in her stead.

"Someone else is running Creamland. Everything’s fine, see?" Lan pointed out, showing her the article. Pride’s eyes scanned it before she lost the gleam in her eyes, burying her face in her hands and bringing her knees up to her chest.

"…Princess?"

"…Lan…oh god, why….what have I done? I said my country couldn’t survive without a strong leader…and look at me, succumbing to dark chips…"

"It isn’t your fault!" Lan protested. "Regal kidnapped you! Even if you did work for Gospel, you care about your country! You were forced, it isn’t your fault…!"

Pride snifled, shoulders shaking. She mumbled a quiet apology, trying to keep herself from crying. Iris softly approached her and rested a hand on her head.

"It’s okay," she mumbled, soothingly. "Go back to sleep. Everything will be okay when you wake up."

To Lan’s surprise, Pride obeyed, eyes closing as she fell back asleep. He looked at Iris in surprise.

"…i-it’s sort of a power I have. I-I’ve always been able to do this," she explained, voice shaking a bit.

"It seems like a nice power. It isn’t hurting her, is it?" Lan asked, looking back at Pride.

"It shouldn’t. As long as the dark chip’s power remains in her body, I can essentially force a ‘shut down’ on her, along with whoever else is stuck with that power until it’s out."

Iris looked at Tesla, frowning. “You don’t know her as well, do you?”

"No, I don’t. Magnetman, though, and her father…" Lan began before quietly calling, "Tesla? Tesla, please wake up…"

Tesla opened her eyes and grimaced at Lan, a sneer on her face.

"So, you captured me. Good for you," she sourly remarked. Lan sighed.

"I want to help yo—"

"And why should you? My father was part of Gospel. I used his very Navi to fight you. I’m surprised you didn’t leave me for dead on that island."

She gave a cruel laugh before hanging her head. “…he’ll have known by now. Father…”

"Who will have known?" Lan pressed, wondering just who she meant.

"Regal," she responded, her voice losing its sharp tone. "He promised me my father would be taken in by him and nursed back to health. He was ill from being in prison…I want him to stay with me. I…I’m not ready to let go of him…"

Tesla picked up her PET, looking down at Magnetman.

"…he gave him to me when he was in better health. He said he deserved a better Operator…I don’t know if I really am that Operator anymore."

"…Tesla, I’m still in contact with Gospel’s former leader. I promise I will check when I can about your father, okay?" Lan offered.

Much to his relief, Tesla gave a hesitant nod. Lan made a mental note to talk to Shun once he was online. He hoped it wouldn’t be too much of a bother to ask him on Gauss’ condition.

"…I’d like to go back to sleep now," Tesla mumbled. Iris nodded and approached her, murmuring a few words before Tesla slipped back into sleep.

"…I fought Gauss and Princess Pride a long time ago. A year or two ago…Gauss was pleading for forgiveness, and Pride injured herself on one of her own traps in an attempt to kill the Official Netbattlers…Gauss was bitter about his brother receiving more of his family’s fortune, while Pride wanted her country to be spared by Gospel. As far as I know, the two served their sentences…" Lan recalled, looking at the two unconscious Operators with an air of nostalgia.

He ran through the list of kidnapped people in his head that he knew: his father, Mayl, Chaud, Yai, Dex, Laika, Higsby, Ribitta…he had to check who else was kidnapped to see if any other names stood out.

"Anyone else who was kidnapped…did they have ties to criminal organizations?" Iris asked.

"Only one, as far as I know. Higsby was originally part of World Three, but he gave up his position there to find rare chips. The rest…Laika might’ve been a jerk, but he helped me! Chaud too…Mayl, Yai and Dex, though, are my friends. And Ribitta’s harmless…although Toadman’s rather tough," Lan responded.

Something in him froze as he remembered Pride and Tesla’s conditions.

"…they…all of them might’ve…” Lan began, voice shaking.

“…it’s highly likely. All of their hearts could have been closed because of dark chips…” Iris sadly confirmed.

Lan took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. He could hear Megaman murmur soothingly to him, trying to calm him down.

“…it’s curable, right? Then I’ll make sure they snap out of it and return to normal! No matter what!” he promised.

Iris nodded. “For now, dig up whatever information you can. I’ll start searching for anyone Regal’s sending after us.”

"Alright! See you once I have anything to tell you!" Lan responded, dashing off.

—

Baryl awoke to a few shafts of sunlight coming from a window. His head ached, and he didn’t feel like moving much, if at all. Colonel was awake as well, the armored Navi looking about as well as Baryl did at the moment.

Baryl pushed himself up, leaning against a wall as he tried to examine his room. It was a thin, high-ceiling room with a window just out of reach for him. A door he could only assume was locked was on his right hand side. His mind started to register he was in some sort of padded cell—definitely not good. There was no other possible light source: if it was dark, it was /dark/.

He caught a glimpse of a security camera, and he narrowed his eyes. Regal was likely on his way down here to force another dark chip in him.

Lo and behold, his adoptive brother entered the room, smirk present on his face.

"Good morning…XD001."

"W…What?"

XD001 was not at all a familiar name. It almost sounded like something you would name a test subject.

"I’m referring to you, of course, Baryl. I’ve thought this over since I spirited you away, and at first the liar part of me wanted to keep it a secret…but in the end, the merciful part chose to tell you," Regal answered, slowly approaching Baryl. The latter backed away into a corner, eyes widening and heart racing.

"You see…I chose you to be part of a new project, XD001. XD stands for Extra Darkness…and I’ve chosen to make your chips more effective at drowning you under the darkness. With each chip, you’ll slide deeper and deeper into despair…and best of all, it’s permanent. No matter what divine being thinks to help you, you will be nothing more than a monster, only knowing how to fight and kill," Regal exlained.

Baryl felt his heart stop at what Regal was explaining. A monster…? Was that…was that really who he would become? And Colonel…!

"Y…You wouldn’t dare…not with father still out there—"

"Oh? You expect me to be afraid of our father? Ahahaha, how cute. His time has long passed, brother dearest—he failed to defeat a child and take over the Net time and again. I believe it’s now my turn—and with you as my greatest weapon, there’s not a thing anyone can do," Regal interrupted, looking smug of himself.

Baryl and Colonel were more than worried: they couldn’t become monsters, they just couldn’t! They had to hold on…

"Now…I’ll give you time to ponder over it while I prepare your next dark chip. I certainly hope you don’t resist becoming a monster, it’ll make things so much easier," Regal added, leaving the room and locking it shut.

—

Lan was relieved to be able to talk to Shun that night. The younger Operator was working on homework, having enrolled in online classes. Freezeman looked as healthy as ever, and the two admitted to having a rather peaceful time of it lately.

To: Shun  
From: Lan  
Great to hear that! Man I wish I could say the same. Giant alien robot nearly destroyed the world with an asteroid. It’s a long story.

To: Lan  
From: Shun  
Giant alien…you know what, I don’t think I want to know. I heard about all those kidnappings going on-I didn’t think Pride would get herself captured like that. Are you staying safe and all that?

To: Shun  
I wish I could say I am. Did you get the latest update on the kidnapings? My dad and three of my friends were kidnapped and somehow I wasn’t.

To: Lan  
What? That’s terrible! Hang on, let me check…they only reported your dad’s kidnapping in major news. I have no idea what to say.

To: Shun  
Ever hear of Dr. Regal? He has this organization called Nebula. They’re behind the kidnappings. According to a friend, a total of 16 people have been kidnapped now…be careful out there, please.

There was a pause before Shun replied.

To: Lan  
I will. Thank you for telling me. Is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?

To: Shun  
Yeah. Do you know about Gauss Magnus’ condition?

Another pause, much longer than the last one, and Shun responded.

To: Lan  
He’s in the hospital, gravely ill. He isn’t expected to last much longer.

Lan felt a pang in his heart, and he suddenly wondered just how much Regal told Pride and Tesla was true. Creamland was okay, but Gauss was on his deathbed?

To: Shun  
I had no idea. How long has he been sick?

To: Lan  
From what I hear, for quite a while. I need to go, I promise I’ll contact you when I can.

Lan sat back in shock, looking at Megaman in worry. His Navi looked equally concerned.

"…Regal was telling the truth there. But…Creamland’s okay, isn’t it?" Megaman wondered.

"It…It is, I checked…but…did Regal really know?" Lan quietly asked.

"Maybe…let’s get some rest. We’ll have to tell Tesla tomorrow…I just hope that goes well,” Megaman hoped.

Lan turned off the lights and crawled into bed for a few moments before grabbing his PET.

“Lan? Are you okay?”

“…I’m just worried about the others. Is…Is it okay with I keep you with me tonight?”

“Of course it is, Lan. Good night.”

“G’night.”

—

Dark was not liking his situation at all: the assassin had a feeling he would be in danger of being targeted by whatever group was kidnaping those people (he did recognize the name Princess Pride, and Tesla Magnus was probably related to Gauss Magnus), and had fled to End City in an attempt to hide. He was hiding himself on the top of the castle, behind one of the statues.

His luck was running out, as peons clothed in black were swarming the area he was trying to hide in. The moon was getting close to full, making stealth a daunting task.

“He’s not over here!”

“Check the castle!”

How was no one waking up to see people swarming a tourist area? Had they used some sort of sleeping gas?

He grimaced as two drew close, not quite seeing him yet.

“This was where he was last seen?”

“From what I’ve heard, yes. Shadowman.EXE was reported to have been near End City servers last. Then again, we also heard rumors about him being on Oran Isle where Princess Pride and Tesla Magnus were…”

“I’m almost tempted to believe we’re just being sent on a wild goose chase. This guy’s an assassin, just what chance do we stand against him?”

“I’d wager he’s being cornered if we can’t find him on the ground. If he was right next to us, he could have attacked us by now, wouldn’t he have?”

Dark slowly inched to where the shorter of the two on the roof were. He could hear footsteps from below.

“I guess…I’d rather be back with Teisel, to be honest. He and I were planning a date for when we were off work.”

“Relax, you’ll be back with him before the night is over. He shouldn’t be too far from here.”

Miyabi considered trying to choke one of the peons and threatening to do the same if the other peon alerted, but people would see. On the other hand, they were too close to the exit…he wasn’t close enough to the trees, was he?

He hesitated, and one of the peons spotted him.

“He’s up here! Swarm him!”

The peons started pouring in from below, Miyabi attempting to flee past them. Somehow, he managed to get into End Castle, the peons charging after him as he tried to make his way to the exit. Of all the times to hesitate, why did he choose that moment?

“He’s getting away! Someone,  _get him_!”

Oh, how Miyabi wished he could have fled. The peons managed to surprise him at a corner, and he was tackled to the ground. What felt like a hundred needles seemed to go into him at once, and the world turned dark.

Before his consciousness was completely gone, he heard, “We finally captured the assassin!”


	5. Chapter 5

Lan went over to SciLabs as quickly as he could the following morning, not needing Iris to prompt him to go over. He was not quite looking forward to having to tell Tesla Regal was right about her father.

"We would have to tell her at some point," Megaman sadly pointed out. "He doesn’t have much time left…I think she would want to spend what time she had left with him."

Lan couldn’t help but agree, trying to figure a way to tell the older Operator as he got ready for the day.

"Hey Iris, I—" Lan began as he entered the room where Tesla and Pride were being held.

"Stay away from me!"

Lan ducked as something was tossed at him, narrowly missing. Pride and Tesla were cowering in opposite sides of the room, visible black and red auras around them. They both had tears streaming down their faces, Iris trying to calm them both down. It looked like Pride had thrown whatever object nearly hit him upside the head.

"I-Iris?!"

Iris looked at Lan, an apologetic look on her face.

"I’m sorry, these two suddenly started acting up…I’ve been trying to calm them down…" she explained, sounding a little frightened.

"Th…This would not be a good time to say that Tesla’s father really is…" Lan began, looking worried.

Iris’s eyes widened, and she looked back at Tesla. The woman didn’t seem to overhear, thankfully.

"…I thought…well, telling her now would likely not help things…"

Lan struggled with words for a bit before pointing out, reluctantly, “She needs to know. I don’t think he has much time left.”

Iris weakly nodded, frowning. Lan slowly approached Tesla, the brunette looking up at him with a mixture of sheer hatred and fear.

"…Tesla. I…I have bad news. Regal was…he was telling the truth. Your father doesn’t have that much time left, he’s sick…" Lan tried to explain.

Tesla stiffened, and for a moment Lan thought she was going to attack him, until the aura around her disappeared and she buried her face in her hands.

"…f…father…" she uttered before giving a muffled sob.

Iris looked at Lan in surprise, then at Tesla, gingerly approaching her and letting her fall asleep again.

"…that’s taken care of, then. Lan…can you try to calm Pride as well?" she asked.

"I can try…"

Lan slowly approached Pride, who actually seemed to be crying now that he could properly see her.

"Pride? Pride, can you hear me?"

The Princess froze, and looked up, looking frightened.

"D-Don’t hurt me, please! I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt you! I wanted to keep Creamland safe!" she apologized, voice wavering.

"P-Pride? No, I’m not…" Lan began, confused.

"She must think you’re one of the Netbattlers that fell into those traps back then…" Megaman guessed.

Lan winced, sitting down by her.

"It’s okay, Pride. You’ve been forgiven. Gospel has been disbanded, you’ve made up for what you’ve done…" he tried to assure.

Pride seemed to cry for a few more moments before the aura around her disappeared as well, with her trying to calm down herself.

"…why…why did those painful memories come back…"

"…I don’t know. But…go back to sleep for now, okay? Everything will be okay…" Lan soothed, pulling her into a hug. Iris approached the two and mumbled something quietly before Pride dozed off.

"…thank you. I was worried things might have gotten worse. Now that they’re asleep…Lan, do you mind finding something else to do for a little bit?"

"What? Why?" Lan asked as he got up.

"I need some time to sort out a few things. Not to mention, I think you need to spend some more time with any of your other friends and take a break from all this negativity."

"But…But I want to get dad back as soon as possible!" Lan protested.

"We  _will_  get him back, make no mistake about it, but we have no leads on Nebula’s whereabouts. Lan, I need you to be patient here, please,” Iris tried to ask of the NetOp.

Lan looked unwilling to just wait, but sighed and nodded.

"…okay. But…wait, what about the Navis that were infected? What’s going on with them?" he asked.

"I’m trying to develop a vaccination to get rid of the dark chip’s presence. It’s coming along slowly, but until then, the Navis are offline. Don’t worry, everything is under control here, okay?" Iris responded.

Lan gave a mumble in response before heading back out of SciLabs.

—

Lan had to admit, it was a nice, sunny day out. However, without his usual group of friends, it was lonely. No Gutsman to fight, no talking with Roll and Mayl, no trying to help Yai and Glyde get better at Netbattling…

"Megaman? Isn’t there anyone else we can talk to?"

"There’s Kai, Sherrice, Shun, Miyu, Mary…we haven’t really seen most of them in a while. I hope they’re all doing alright!" Megaman responded.

Lan paled. He had been busy with the tournaments and everything with the kidnappings, he forgot about the others!

"O-Okay, let’s talk to Kai first, he must miss us quite a bit!"

Lan tried calling Kai, hoping it would work.

"Hello? Kai?"

"Master Lan? Is that you?"

Kai sounded excited to be able to talk to Lan again, the younger Operator looking overjoyed on the screen.

"Kai! It’s great to see you again! Sorry I haven’t talked to you, there’s been…a lot going on," Lan admitted.

"Like those kidnappings? I kind of heard about what happened…Lan, I’m sorry you—"

"I-It’s fine, it’s fine," Lan hurriedly interrupted. "Is everything fine with you?"

"Yup! Turboman and I have been practicing since that tournament, and we want to show you how far we’ve come since you last saw us!"

Lan found himself eager at the idea of a quick little Netbattle with Kai—it wouldn’t hurt, would it? Nothing at stake, just a fun little fight…

"Alright! Do you want me to meet you, or can you come over to me?"

"I can come over! Give me a few minutes, and I’ll be right there!"

It did take a few minutes for Kai to get over to Lan, but the younger NetOp seemed thrilled to see Lan as he arrived. And was it just Lan, or did Kai seem a little taller from the last time he had seen him in person?

"Kai! It’s great to see you in person again!" Lan greeted, cheerfully.

"It’s great to see you too, Master Lan! I’m really happy I get to test my skills again with you!" Kai replied, with equal cheer in his voice.

Lan nodded. “Alright, let’s get our PETs set up, and then we can have our battle—”

A sudden alert caught Lan off-guard.

"E-mail, Lan!" Megaman reported.

Lan checked the email, curious, before freezing. Iris was ordering him to come to the labs as soon as he could: she had news on another victim.

"…Master Lan? Is everything alright?

"I…I have to go. A…A friend needs my help right now. I promise we’ll have our battle later," Lan shakily answered. He could see Kai look curious, then concerned before nodding.

"Okay…hope everything’s okay with your friend!" he responded. Lan nodded before skating away.

—

Iris looked concerned as Lan hurried in. She was tying away on a computer, looking up only to greet Lan.

"Lan. Someone was kidnapped last night, it seems. News didn’t break out until just a while ago…no one could tell who it was, but the person was in End City and was surrounded by people in dark robes and gasmasks…it’s guaranteed at this point it’s Nebula," she explained.

"No one knows? That’s not good…do you have an idea of who it might be?" Lan asked.

"At this point? No. There are several Netbattlers Nebula could easily target aside from the ones already taken…Tamako Shiraizumi, Dark Miyabi, anyone who has been in World 3, the very ruler of the Undernet themselves…I suspect it won’t be long before another attack comes about. You have to be ready, Lan…" Iris responded.

"I am!" Lan responded, though the idea of Mamoru and Serenade, of all people, being corrupted into something meant to attack Lan and Megaman gave him chills. Serenade was no easy opponent…

"In any case, be on your guard. I don’t know where the next attack will come, as I’ve scanned nearby areas and found nothing," Iris warned.

"I will, I pro—"

A surprised yelp and a crash alerted the two someone was nearby. Lan reached for the Synchro chip.

"Come on out, we know you’re there!"

To his shock, Kai appeared in the doorway, looking frightened.

"K…Kai?"

—

Yuichiro was not looking forward to today’s interrogation by Regal. Without Baryl there, the man felt like he was in solitary confinement. Regal had a grin on his face as he entered the room.

"What do you want now, Regal? You know I won’t talk…" Yuichiro sourly pointed out.

"Oh, hush. I’m not here for interrogation today, the SoulNet can wait. I have far more pressing news to give," Regal responded.

This made Yuichiro curious. Just what did Regal have planned?

"I took Baryl from this nice little cell of yours for a reason—I made him believe he was going to be part of a little project of mine. However, I have something else in store…and I believe you should know."

Yuichiro gulped nervously—he had no Navi, so Regal couldn’t corrupt him. The closest he had was Zero.EXE, and thankfully he had chosen to flee before Yuichiro was spirited away.

"You see…" Regal began.

—

"…Wily? Lord Wily, is this thing on?"

"Yes, yes, it is. What is it?"

"…what are we going to do? We can’t just let Nebula take away Baryl like that!"

"Believe me, I know. However, I have no idea where they’re holding him…not to mention, I’m short my prototype Copybot. Should never have left Iris test i—"

"Er, I hate to interrupt, but do you have any orders?"

"…yes. Don’t do anything big for now, I don’t want Nebula getting any bright ideas by taking away anyone from World Three. Get a NormalNavi to use and keep keep Blastman in your PET until further notice."

"Yes, sir. I’m sure Iris will show up soon, I don’t think Regal would kidnap just a Navi…"

"Hmph, I suppose so. I can only hope she’s alright. She can be dangerous if in the wrong hands…bah, I’m worrying too much for my age."

"Perhaps we can ask SciLabs to help combat Nebula? Or…"

"We could try, if I wasn’t known for nearly taking over the Net a few times. I doubt they’ll listen."

"We need to try! I’ve heard nothing of anyone else wanting to stand against them after Baryl and Eugene Chaud were captured! Wily, we don’t know what’s coming, and I for one want to see my best friend again, and I know you don’t want to lose Baryl either!"

Silence fell for a few moments.

"…we’ll ask tomorrow. Give me some time to try and find the Copybot’s location. Should’ve put a GPS chip on that blasted thing…"

"You didn’t put a GPS chip on your own creation?"

"I didn’t expect her to run off, okay? Go back to…grading papers or whatever is it you do as a teacher."

"Very well. See you tomorrow, then."


	6. Chapter 6

Kai hesitantly approached Lan and Iris, gripping his PET tight.

"K…Kai, what are you doing here? This isn’t…you shouldn’t…" Lan stammered.

"I-I know, and I’m sorry, Master Lan…but I was concerned, you just up and said you had something to do…" Kai apologized.

"…how much did you hear?" Iris asked.

"…all of it. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…!"

Lan tried to comfort Kai by saying, “It’s alright, I did sort of seem suspicious…”

Iris paused for a few moments, thinking over something. Lan looked up in curiosity.

"…Lan, we could use help, especially after the whole Oran Isle incident…"

"Y-You’re not thinking of asking Kai, are you?!"

Iris winced. “I know, it’s a risky idea, and I really don’t want more people involved in this than there should be, but Pride and Tesla aren’t completely better yet, and while we have a vaccine of sorts for the Navis, it's only a prototype, and I need to test it on Magnetman and Knightman...we can't afford to wait until the vaccine is 100% guaranteed to work.”

"I can’t just up and have him fight Nebula!" Lan protested, sounding distressed. Kai seemed confused at the conversation.

"Um…Master Lan? What’s going on?"

Lan sighed.

"Okay, long story short…all those kidnapped people are likely being brainwashed to go after others or something. We don’t know yet what they’re meant for, but if what we’re seeing is anything…" he began.

"Lives are at risk here. It seems Regal perfected a way to fuse a Navi and their Operator to fight as one being, but his chip corrupts those who use it, whereas the one we have does no such thing. So far, we recovered two people and their Navis…and I suspect we’ll need help in the future. Lan, he is your friend and I respect that, but…" Iris started to say.

"Y-You need me to help?" Kai finished, eyes wide.

"Yes, please. Until we get more people back and cured, we’re at a disadvantage in fights. Kai, can you help us?" the brunette asked.

"I-I’d love to! Honestly! But…what about our parents?" Kai replied.

Lan fell silent, Iris not wanting to respond either.

"…n-neither of you told your parents?"

"Mom can’t know, she would…she would only worry…" Lan admitted.

"…my…father wouldn’t be happy either," Iris added.

"So we’re supposed to keep it all secret?" Kai realized.

"We don’t have a choice," Iris weakly explained. "We’re in enough trouble with Nebula as is by getting two of their kidnapped people. The method we’re using to fight thankfully obscures identities, and if Nebula knew who we were…"

Kai gulped and nodded. “I promise I won’t tell anyone, then!”

"Alright…now Kai, we need to see if you are Synchro Chip worthy. Lan, can you come back in a bit? Pride and Tesla are still recovering from yesterday’s outburst, but they should be awake before tonight," Iris decided. The NetOp could only nod, heading home.

—

Knightman and Magnetman awoke in a private room, a Navi clad in blue and yellow facing the two of them with a syringe in hand.

"Hello, gentlemen. You may call me Ballade.EXE. Iris has given me orders to administer the vaccination program on you both—and please, just make it easy for me to get this over with. I don’t like seeing Navis in pain," the Navi responded, voice unfamiliar. They calmly approached the two dark chip-infused Navis, who instantly readied their weaponry.

"Do you really need to get violent with me today? I just want to get this over with…"

Knightman swung his mace, only for Ballade to simply jump high over it, injecting Knightman with what was in the syringe. The Navi slumped over, his coloring returning to normal. Magnetman prepred to attack, but Ballade was too quick and injected the program into him. It wasn’t long before Magnetman’s colors returned to what they were as well.

"Now that that’s taken care of…" Ballade murmured, pulling up a list of Navis that they and Iris knew were taken with their operators, checking off Knightman and Magnetman. They seemed undaunted at the remaining list, simply stowing it away. Iris peered into her Navi’s screen.

"Taken care of?" Iris asked for confirmation.

"Yes. They tried to fight back. What’s the report on the operator who joined today?" Ballade responded.

"They took to Crossfusion swimmingly. I’m going to get Lan over here in a few minutes to discuss what we’re researching and what the plan will be for him and Kai."

"I see. Will that be all I’m needed for today?"

Iris thought it over before shaking her head and lowering her voice. “He’s in the other room, so…I know we’re both Navis, but…do you think it’s possible we can crossfuse?”

"…I’m not sure. We would be the first to successfully crossfuse if so, but I would be careful and wait until we can properly test it," Ballade suggested.

"You have a point. Otherwise, I suppose just prepare the vaccination program again for the next times we’ll need it."

Ballade nodded, going back to their tasks.

—

Lan returned to SciLabs later that day, Pride and Tesla in noticeably better conditions. They still seemed glum, but otherwise they were able to stand up on their own. Kai seemed quite excited, happily holding his PET.

"Everything’s going well?" Lan asked.

"Yup~!" Kai cheerily answered.

"Knightman and Magnetman have been purified, so what’s left is to help the Operators. I’ve been looking for something we could possibly do to fully open up Pride and Tesla’s hearts. Do you have any ideas?" Iris questioned Lan.

"Well…the only thing I can think of is this thing from the Solar Boy Django comics. Django usually puts these vampires in a coffin and drags them to this…/thing/ called a Pile Driver, and uses sunlight to purify them!" Lan tried to explain.

"…I don’t think we quite have the technology to do that," Pride pointed out. "I don’t think sunlight could help…"

"It’s the only thing I could think of…" Lan admitted.

"We’ll keep researching, then. There has to be something…oh, and Lan? Kai has decided to stay the night with you," Iris informed.

"What? Why? I mean, I’m not protesting a sleepover or anything…" Lan started.

"Regal likely knows by now Pride and Tesla aren’t coming back. For now, I think it’s safer for you two to be together. Kai agreed, and his mother will be contacting yours in a bit."

"A-Alright, then…" Lan decided.

—

It was getting dark out when Lan and Kai returned to ACDC Town. The two were staying close, mainly due to what felt like a nip in the air.

"We should be okay, I don’t think they would try to attack near home…" Lan mumbled.

"You sure?" Kai asked, looking around uneasily.

"I’m su—"

There were two shadows near that squirrel statue that weren’t there before. Both had to be adults, from how tall they were, and they were looking right at the two…

"…Lan?" Kai whispered, reaching for his PET.

"Wait. Maybe they’re friendly?" Lan quietly suggested before asking aloud, "Who are you two? What do you want with us?"

"The name’s Charlie. Charlie Airstar. What are two kids doing outside at this time of night?" the slightly lankier of the two questioned. Lan stood protectively in front of Kai, trying to look for Charlie’s eye color. To his growing worry, his eyes were bright red…and right next to him was…

"…Miyabi? You’re…ohh no…" Lan began, eyes wide.

"…long time no see, Hikari," the assassin greeted. "I haven’t forgotten what you did to Shadowman and I."

"If you two are here…oh, this is just great…" Lan muttered.

"Just come along quietly now, you two. We don’t want any trouble…" Charlie began, approaching them.

"Back off!" Lan snapped. "You know we won’t do that! We have to stop you both!"

"So that’s what it’s gonna be, then? Ahahaha! You kids…alright, then, if that’s what you want!" Charlie decided. He slotted in some chip on his PET, and a Dimensional Area surrounded the four.

"Look, if you two would just come with us, we can help you!" Lan tried to coax. "Miyabi, you know you wouldn’t normally use something like Dark Chips! Charlie…I-I don’t know what happened with you, but I know you can’t seriously want to help Regal, right?"

Charlie seemed to hesitate before giving a harsh laugh. “Do you really think anything you’ll say will convince us to just lie down and give up? How cute!”

"N-No! Both of you need to believe me, you need to stay away from the Dark Chips! Please, listen to me!" Lan pled.

"We’ll only listen if you and your partner can defeat us," Miyabi coldly pointed out. "I wouldn’t expect that to happen if I were you."

"There’s no way around it…let’s go, Kai!" Lan encouraged.

"Right!" Kai responded.


	7. Chapter 7

Iris did not expect to receive a distressed message from Lan that evening, urgently pleading for help. Charlie Airstar and Dark Miyabi, according to the NetOp, had been waiting for them in ACDC Town and Lan had barely any time to send the message before he needed to fight—

And the message stopped there. Iris hurried over to ACDC Town, Lan crossfused and trying to fight off who the girl could guess was Charlie. Some sort of purple armor covered him, along with a teal visor and a giant propeller on his back. The other, Dark Miyabi, was dressed in some sickly light brown ninja outfit, the scarf a darker shade of brown. Their eyes were bright red, though Charlie’s was flickering…

Kai was a little frightened out of action, terrified at Dark slowly approaching him before Lan chose to stand in front of him protectively.

"Kai! Crossfuse, now! I’ll take Dark, you take Charlie!" he ordered. Kai gulped and nodded, slotting in the Synchro Chip as Lan fended for the younger Netbattler. Red-plated armor covered Kai, a red helmet with a black visor covering his face. What seemed to be exhaust pipes jutted out from behind him, along with what could very easily pass for roller skates covering his feet. Kai stumbled slightly as the transformation completed before charging at Charlie. The older man hesitated before trying to counter Kai’s rush.

Dark seemed almost a natural at using Crossfusion abilities, elbowing Lan in the gut before grabbing him and throwing him to the ground. Lan yelped in pain before struggling up, using a gatling gun chip to retalitate. Dark, surprisingly, didn’t try to move or block the attack.

"Dark? The heck are you doing, man?" Charlie questioned, backing off from fighting Kai.

"…this…this isn’t…ngh!" Dark hissed in pain, eyes screwed shut.

"C’mon, Dark, these are…they’re just a bunch of kids! They…they just…"

Charlie seemed to be considering his own words as he looked at Lan and Kai, the two trying to bravely look at their opponents despite their fears.

"…they’re just kids…I…I don’t think I can…"

"We should! We…I have no choice…" Dark stammered out.

Lan seemed to slowly let the tension leave his body and cautiously approach the struggling adults.

"Charlie, Dark…please, let us help you. You don’t really want to fight us, do you?" he asked.

"…you’re gonna think this is ridiculous and all…but I…I was promised if I brought you to Regal…once he ruled the world, I could have the skies all to myself…I don’t know if this is worth that anymore…" Charlie admitted, head lowered.

"…I agree. I would rather not have to fight like this…" Dark muttered.

Iris finally stepped in. “Then I’ll take you both back to SciLabs.”

Lan seemed relieved Iris had shown up, while Kai seemed surprised the girl had arrived. “Oh! Iris! How long were you standing there?”

"Since the fight started. I’m surprised I don’t have to drag two people back unconscious this time—and sort of relieved. Though it’ll be hard to explain to anyone who sees me…" Iris replied, looking at Charlie and Dark worryingly.

"Good luck. Mom’s going to be looking for Kai and I, we…didn’t check in with her first," Lan admitted. Iris looked at Lan in concern as the Dimensional Area disappeared and the four were separated from their Navis.

"…then go, right now," the girl ordered in a terse voice. "If she gets even the slightest bit suspicious about where you’ve been…"

"Don’t worry, she probably thinks we’re just running late!" Lan tried to assure. Iris could only sigh and lead Charie and Miyabi away as Lan and Kai sprinted to Lan’s home and headed inside. Haruka was waiting for the two, worried.

"Are you two okay? You said you’d be here a short while ago…"

"Yeah, mom! Don’t worry, we just got a little distracted getting battle chips!" Lan lied. Kai could only nod, not thrilled at lying to Lan’s mother.

"Good, I’m glad nothing bad happened to you two…dinner is ready, by the way!" Haruka informed.

"Good, because I’m starving!" Lan commented.

"Me too!" Kai chorused.

—

Back at SciLabs, Iris was leading in Charlie and Miyabi into the spare room being used to house those recaptured from Nebula. Pride and Tesla were asleep on the couch and floor respectively, not waking up as Iris walked in.

"That pretty lady over there…hey, Lily or whatever your name is, what’s her name?" Charlie asked, pointing at Tesla.

"My name is Iris," Iris answered, "and that woman is Tesla Magnus. Didn’t you see her when you were being held captive at Nebula?"

"Ehh…maybe? I can’t…really remember," the pilot admitted, quietly.

"In any case…please give me your PETs."

Charlie and Miyabi looked offended at the idea of giving this girl their PETs, glaring at her with renewed venom in their eyes. Iris sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Look, if you want to get better, I need to fix your Navis as well. Their programming was messed with, my Navi and I have a solution that seems to be working."

" ‘Seems’? Not a ‘confirmed’ or ‘definitely’ working?" Miyabi questioned, tersely.

"I’m not a master programmer. I can’t just change a Navi’s behavior, dark chips are relatively new, you need to put up with it until I know for certain what we have is working for certain," Iris answered. Miyabi seemed somewhat satisfied with the response, and looked for a place to sleep after handing his PET over. Charlie gave Iris his PET as well, and seemed to consider sleeping near Tesla before deciding against it and finding his own little spot to rest in.

Iris returned to the main command room, her Navi resting in their PET. The brown-haired Navi set the PETs obtained down and sat down, staring at the list of kidnapped people with a tired look. In hindsight, something seemed…off.

"…now that I think about it…looking through this list, the only person kidnapped without a unique Navi is Yuriko Ozono. As far as I know, anyways…"

Iris began to wonder what Regal wanted with someone who was mainly a teacher. She could have sworn she heard Wily talking about her at some point, but she couldn’t remember…

She tiredly checked the clock, grimacing at seeing the time. She would debate this later, she needed to charge the Copybot soon.

—

"Lord Regal, sir!"

At Nebula’s lair, Regal crossed out Charlie and Dark, an annoyed look on his face. He raised his head at hearing the peon.

"Yes, yes, what is it?"

"We may have found a way to increase the capacity of dark chips! Shall we begin experimenting with them?" the grunt asked.

"Hmm…"

Regal looked over his monitors, gaze resting on the one containing three kids said to be Lan Hikari’s friends. They looked frightened, huddling together away from anyone who walked near their cell.

"…go ahead. And I know just the subjects…"


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning, Kai was up before Lan was, yawning and stretching. He was still a little sore from the fight yesterday, not expecting it to be quite so intense. Turboman seemed okay, which was some good news. The young boy had slept in a guest room of sorts, not too far from Lan’s room. Lan himself still seemed to be asleep, while his mom was making breakfast.

Kai frowned at remembering last night’s events. Lan seemed okay with lying to his mom…he didn’t really want to lie to people just to keep their secret safe, it seemed wrong!

"Turboman? Are you up?" he asked, grabbing his PET. The Navi was still resting, the battery almost fully recharged. Kai sighed and decided to get dressed and ready for the day. Not too long after, Lan did the same, almost walking into the door at first.

"Master Lan? Are you okay?"

"T…Totally okay. I was kind of up late talking with Shun…" Lan admitted in a sleepy voice.

"Shun?"

"He was the leader of Gospel before it was defeated. He and I are friends…"

Lan paused to yawn, rubbing his eyes. “Gimme a moment, ‘m tired…”

"Did you tell him about…" Kai began.

"No, I don’t think I should…he’s had enough to deal with, I don’t want to get him into anything like this…" Lan responded, frowning.

"But he’d be a useful ally, right? He has a Navi, doesn’t he?"

"We’ll talk more about this later, I don’t want mom to hear."

Kai could only pout in complaint as Lan ducked into the bathroom to get dressed.

—

Iris seemed to be picking up tiny pieces of something when Lan and Kai arrived at SciLabs later that day.

"Was that a dark chip?" Lan guessed.

"Two or three," Iris absentmindedly replied, dumping the dark purple shards in the trashcan. "I had to look through their chips. It seems Charlie and Miyabi were rushed out early and didn’t really take to the dark chips."

"So that’s why they were able to fight it better than Tesla and Princess Pride…is there anything planned for today?" Megaman piped up.

"Well…I was thinking of Lan, Tesla and I going to see Gauss."

Lan sighed at the mention of going to see Magnetman’s former operator, while Kai seemed confused. “What happened?”

"Gauss is Tesla’s father, he worked for Gospel. He’s…dying. Iris, do you know where he is?" Lan curtly answered.

"Seaside Hospital. They transferred him recently."

Iris paused. “Though, the public at large doesn’t really know Tesla hasn’t been rescued…this is going to get complicated.”

"Can’t SciLabs figure something to tell them?" Kai questioned.

"I’m assuming yes, but…it’ll be hard to explain even so. We’ll need to gradually bring them back into society once they’re purified…" the brown-haired girl responded, nervous.

"What about Kai and Turboman?" Lan asked.

"They’ll have to head home, I don’t want any kids to be here by themselves," Iris answered, grabbing her PET. "Pride’s close to breaking free of the dark chip’s influence, and even if she can’t handle watching those two, I have several SciLabs members standing by."

"That’s…kind of overprepared," Kai commented.

"With dark chips, I don’t want to afford a slip in judgement and think they’ll be alright…if all goes well, Lan and I will be back later today."

Lan and Iris went to get Tesla, Kai heading home for the day.

—

There was no shortage of stares at Seaside Hospital as Lan, Tesla and Iris arrived and got Gauss’ room. A few people muttered amongst themselves about Tesla, the brunette refusing to look at anyone. Lan wanted to say something to try to comfort her, given she was trying to break free of the dark chip’s influence, but nothing came to mind that he could readily say.

The walk down the hall to Gauss’ room was uncomfortably quiet, Iris trailing behind Tesla and Lan. She looked as troubled as Lan felt, head lowered. Was she alright?

"Iris…?"

"…I…I’ll be okay. I’m just tired…"

"How late were you up last night? Please tell me you got some sleep…"

"…well, I got some sleep. A few hours worth—"

"Iris!"

Iris winced. “I was trying to find a way to fully open up Pride’s heart. I’m beginning work on a machine that could possibly do the trick, but it’s going to take a while. We need a way to help her and Tesla now.”

Lan could only nod in agreement. Tesla made no comment, walking forward with a steady pace until they arrived at Gauss’ room.

"…you might not like what you see, Tesla," Iris quietly warned.

"…I want to see my father again. Just one more time…" Tesla responded, opening the door. Gauss was lying on a bed, hooked up to a life support machine. He seemed frail and tired, but thankfully awake.

"…father?" Tesla began, hesitantly approaching his bedside.

Gauss turned to the side, shock in his eyes. “Tesla? You…You’re okay?”

"Yes. I…I was rescued. By Lan Hikari, the kid you lost to a while ago," Tesla answered, keeping her voice steady.

"I’m so happy to see you’re safe. Tesla…I thought I would die before I saw you again…is Lan Hikari here?" Gauss asked, straining to see Lan at the doorside. Iris nudged Lan to walk over to Gauss, the young Operator reluctantly walking over.

"Hey, Gauss…" Lan mumbled.

"Lan…as much as I don’t want to say it, I owe you so much for bringing Tesla back to me. Thank you…" Gauss began before coughing.

"Father…! Are you…" Tesla gasped, silently pleading for him to live through this, for him to just live one more day…

"I…I think I might see your mother again soon, Tesla. I guess I’ve had enough time…"

"But…you can’t! I’m not…with Magnetman…"

"Tesla, you don’t give yourself enough credit. If you didn’t work well with Magnetman, he would have been deleted by now, right?" Gauss asked, looking at his daughter.

"I…yes…" Tesla admitted.

"Then you’re doing fine. And you’ll do fine until you give Magnetman to someone else. Take care of yourself, Tesla…know that I’ll always love you…" Gauss responded, eyes shutting before the nearby monitor flatlined. A group of doctors hurried into the room, Tesla, Lan and Iris choosing to leave in pained silence.

—

The three returned to SciLabs, Tesla sitting on the couch in the room designated for those affected by dark chips. Charlie and Miyabi were still sleeping, while Pride was trying to focus on reading a book, raising her head when she heard Tesla, Iris and Lan walk in.

"Welcome back. Is Gauss…"

"Gone," Tesla responded, voice barely devoid of emotion. "He…He didn’t have much time left."

"…Tesla, I’m so sorry. I knew him well, he didn’t…" Pride began, frowning heavily.

Tesla didn’t respond, simply burying her face in her hands.

"Let her work through her grief herself," Iris cautiously advised. "The dark chip’s influence might only hinder how she’s processing this."

Pride could only nod, going back to her book as Iris and Lan left the room. Iris sat down at her desk, a tired look on her face.

"…so, er…any new stuff?" Lan prompted, wanting to keep the mood from getting too depressing.

"…right, right. In a day or two, there’ll be a luxury cruiseliner at the docks by SciLabs, the Queen Bohemia. There’s going to be a Booster program up for sale, and we can easily bet Nebula is going to be attempting to take it. You need to get an invitation and get onto the ship, then make sure Nebula doesn’t get their hands on the Booster program."

"What does the Booster program do, though?" Lan asked.

"Its main use is to power up programs. I don’t think I need to explain how dangerous it would be should Nebula get it," Iris answered.

Lan nodded, gulping nervously. “R-Right…who would have an invitation to the ship, though?”

"Well, I’d say Princess Pride, but I’m not sure. Is there anyone you know who could have gotten an invitation to the Queen Bohemia?"

"Oh! What about Sherrice?" Megaman suggested.

"Sherrice?" Iris repeated, raising her head.

"Sherrice is…sort of a friend of ours," Lan explained. "We helped her when her Navi was infected with a Trojan Horse. We haven’t kept in touch for a while…"

"Then talk with her. We can’t let Regal get that program," Iris urged.

The NetOp nodded. “Is that all for today?”

"Yes. I’ll contact you if anything comes up," the brunette answered, and Lan began to head home, pulling up Sherrice’s contact information on his PET.

"Megaman, send a message to Sherrice…"

—

At Nebula’s base, Regal entered Yuichiro’s prison cell, the brown-haired man furiously struggling to get out of his bonds.

"You…! You sick…!!" Yuichiro shouted, hoarsely.

"Now, now, calm down, Yuichiro. You don’t need to get so worked u—"

"You can’t do that to him! You can’t just hurt him…!"

Regal made a sound of annoyance, looming over Yuichiro. “And who are you to tell me what to do?”

"I know doing that will backfire! He will turn on you!"

"Oh please. He’ll listen to me like anyone else who I made use dark chips. The SoulNet will just make it easier."

"Do you even care for human life?!" Yuichiro questioned, shaking in anger. "Do you care what you’re doing will kill people?!"

"Of course I care if it’s killing people. That would just make my plans more complicated than they have to be," Regal replied, shrugging.

"You’re a sadistic—!!"

"Now, Yuchiro, I believe it’s time you told me a bit more about what you know on the SoulNet," Regal interrupted, grinning. Yuichiro could only shrink back in his chair, afraid of what was to happen next.

—

Joe was at home, grading papers with a tired look on his face. Blastman was on his computer, his NormalNavi on his PET.

"…you’re pretty quiet tonight, Joe."

"Mhm."

"Are you still worried about Baryl? You know he’ll be fine, he’s been through a lot worse."

"I don’t know if he’ll be okay. Wily’s hesitating on what to do, especially with reports coming in there were people fighting in ACDC Town…"

Joe paused in grading, looking outside for a moment.

"…maybe I’m just over-thinking things, but…I can’t shake this feeling like something bad is going to happen…"

"Then we’ll just fight and save him, right?" Blastman questioned.

"Right, right…heh, for all I know, he’s probably escaped or something by now."

"Likely. In any event, you should get back to grading homework."

Joe jokingly sighed heavily. “Yes, yes, Blastman, I’ll get back to work,” he replied, resuming his work.


	9. Chapter 9

Sherrice was blinking in surprise at Lan having sent a message to her. The blonde girl was at her home, in the middle of homework when Rideman had announced she received a message from Lan Hikari. She hadn’t seen or heard from him in a long while, so why now of all times?

To: Sherrice  
From: Lan Hikari

Um hey! I’m sorry, I know I haven’t rly talked much and all, but I kind of need a favor! Pls respond ASAP

To: Lan Hikari  
From: Sherrice

A favor? We haven’t spoken in weeks, Hikari. What is so important that you need a favor from me?

There was some hesitance in Lan responding.

To: Sherrice

Well uh, the Queen Bohemia is going to be docking soon, and I wanted to know if you possibly got an invitation for 2?

To: Lan Hikari

My parents got invitations. You don’t strike me as the type of person who willingly goes onto ships like /the Queen Bohemia/. Just tell me what’s going on there.

To: Sherrice

Okay okay, you know about the nebula kidnappings? They want the booster program that’s going to be put up for auction and I need to keep it away from them

To: Lan Hikari

How do you know about that? Not the Booster program, that Nebula is going to get it?

To: Sherrice

I’ll explain everything if we get on the ship, k? Kinda pressed for time rn

Sherrice sighed. She would just have to trust Lan’s word, then.

To: Lan Hikari

Fine. I’ll tell my parents, come over here as soon as you can.

To: Sherrice

Thank you so much! I rly appreciate it!

Sherrice set down her PET and headed downstairs.

—

"Iris? You have one unread message, sent yesterday."

At SciLabs, Iris was trying to look for some alternative way to purify those still under a dark chip’s thrall, making no luck. She had lied about the machine to Lan out of desperation—there was nothing she knew on that could reverse the effects of a dark chip, and she didn’t want to delay with purifying Tesla and Pride much longer.

"Huh? Oh, read it out loud to me, I’m still searching," Iris ordered, looking through webpage after webpage.

"Very well. ‘To anyone at SciLabs who’s received this, I would like to ask for a truce of sorts. I know we haven’t gotten along in the past, given my attempts to destroy the Net, but I recognize we have a common enemy in the form of Nebula. I am fully willing to aid SciLabs in any way possible, so please respond when you can. Lord Wily of World Three.’ Iris, should we accept his help…?" Ballade questioned.

Iris paused, weighing the options of denying Wily’s help versus what they had accomplished already. On one hand, Wily could easily back up his claims and help them, but he had no idea she was here. He wouldn’t be happy knowing this was where she was, actively working with SciLabs…

"…delete the message. We…We’ll be fine on our own," Iris responded, falteringly.

"Are you certain?" Ballade asked.

"…yes. I’m certain, Ballade."

Ballade tossed the message in the trash, looking in concern at their Operator. “Is everything alright?”

"Everything is fine, it’s just…how am I going to explain to Wily when all is said and done…"

"You’ll find a way. I have faith in you."

Iris was touched by Ballade’s positive response. “Thank you. Besides, if all goes well, we’ll have Baryl and the others rescued before long. Regal won’t stand a chance against all those people crossfused…”

"Indeed. That is, assuming Yuriko will be crossfusion-compatible with her Navi."

Ballade paused, then asked, “Lan does know she was kidnapped as well, correct?”

"Not…really. School let out for him for the summer just when the kidnappings started, I don’t know if he ever got news…"

"…does Lan know about the other people who were kidnapped?"

"Yes and no. He…really only knows about the people who were kidnapped that were familiar to him, I think."

"Then I think we should tell him."

"…in hindsight I should have told him at the outset."

"Hindsight is 20/20."

Iris sighed and resumed her search.

—

Lan was sitting on the couch in Sherrice’s living room, the blonde girl sitting beside him. In front of the two kids were Sherrice’s parents, the mother a long-haired ginger and the father the blond Sherrice got her hair from. They were eyeing Lan dubiously.

"So, Mr…Hikari, was it?" the father questioned, his voice containing a thick Netopian accent.

"Y-Yes."

"You wish to take our little girl out to the Queen Bohemia?"

Lan nodded. “I-If it won’t trouble you all.”

"Hmm…Sherrice, honey, do you trust this boy to go out with him?" the father asked Sherrice.

Sherrice nodded. “I trust him. He saved Rideman, even though he didn’t have to.”

The father mulled it over before deciding to hand the tickets over to the kids.

"Both of you, be safe. I’m worried the two of you might be kidnapped if the way Nebula’s doing this leads to you two being targeted," the mother warned.

"We will, I promise! We’ll watch out for each other!" Lan promised.

"Good. Now, have fun you two!" the father replied. "Don’t get into any trouble, Sherry."

Sherrice just nodded, she and Lan leaving her house once the blonde got her PET. They began the quick walk to the subway for SciLabs and the docks.

"…okay, whatever my parents said, ignore it. We’re just friends, both on and off the ship, alright?"

"Okay…?"

Sherrice sighed. “I know I’m partly at fault for not having talked to you either since you saved Rideman, too, before you start pointing that out. Still, though…the Queen Bohemia, Lan?”

Lan hesitated before admitting, “Really long story short, you know about dark chips?”

"No, but I can guess they’re terrible."

"You’re right. Nebula’s using them on people, and with the Booster program things will just get worse."

Sherrice paused and looked at him in surprise. “How could it get worse?”

"There’s plenty of capable Netbattlers out there, right? If Regal got his hands on that program, there would be more people essentially working under him…" Lan began. Sherrice shuddered in fear, looking down at her PET in fear.

"…I don’t want to put Rideman through anymore pain. Who’s standing up to Nebula, even?"

"That’ll be explained when we have some time to ourselves," Lan could only answer as they boarded the train for SciLabs.

Once the two reached the docks, Lan noticed Iris was standing near the Queen Bohemia, holding something in her hand. She pressed it into Lan’s hand as he approached her—it was a Synchro Chip.

"Wha…"

"Just in case," Iris muttered. Sherrice eyed the girl suspiciously.

"Who are you?"

"Iris. I’m Lan’s friend. You’re Sherrice, I presume?" Iris guessed.

"Er, yes. He’s told you about me?"

"Yes. I gave Lan a chip for good luck—he’s already told you about the Booster program?"

Sherrice nodded. “I’ll make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands."

"Good luck, both of you," Iris mumbled as they boarded the ship.

—

Two of the peons cautiously approached Regal at Nebula’s lair.

"Sir? Yuichiro Hikari has been yelling at us when we fed him…what did you do to him?" the shorter of them asked.

"Oh, I just told him some of my plans that are to be kept between him and I. Why does it matter to you two?" Regal questioned in turn.

"It makes it pretty hard for us to even get a word in when he doesn’t stop shouting," the bigger of the two grumbled.

Regal sighed. “I’ll tell you both when the time is right. It isn’t right, however, right now.”

"And why’s that?" the shorter of the two peons challenged. "With all due respect, shouldn’t your loyal workers know what you’re trying to do, too?"

"Not when it could hinder my plan," Regal coldly responded. "Get back to work, both of you."

"But—!"

"Barrett."

The more daunting peon glared at Regal before giving up, the two walking away.

"…Teisel, how could you just…"

"Kid, I don’t like that Regal’s hiding stuff either. We’re being watched, let’s not bother right now," Teisel responded.

Barrett grunted in displeasure, just about trudging behind Teisel. “You have a plan or something, right?”

"Of course. Just wait, we’ll get our information eventually," Teisel answered.


	10. Chapter 10

The Queen Bohemia was a rather fancy ship, Lan had to admit. Red and gold decorated the inside, a few people rather dressed up.

"…was I supposed to dress up too?" Lan couldn’t help but ask Sherrice.

"I don’t think so. There’s probably a few people not as dressed up," the blonde replied, shrugging. "I looked up the booster program, we’ve got some time to look for anyone affiliated with Nebula."

The two wandered outside, some kid in a hoodie NetBattling a man who was growing more and more furious with the fight between their Navis.

"Kid, what the…your Navi shouldn’t be that strong! It just about lopped my Navi’s head off!"

"Your Navi is just too weak, then!" the kid responded, smirking as his Navi advanced to finish off his opponent. Just before the final blow could be dealt, the older man jacked out his Navi, looking at the kid in terror.

"Geez! Calm down, it’s not like I was one of those World Three crooks!" he muttered, quickly leaving. The kid in the hoodie chuckled before turning to look at Lan. The NetOp barely concealed a yelp of surprise, seeing the tell-tale red eyes of someone who had used dark chips.

"Want to take his place for round 2?" the other boy asked.

"N-No thanks, we were just going!" Lan quickly responded, dragging Sherrice away. She protested, pulling her arm away once the two had reached were away from the mysterious boy.

"Lan, what was that all about?" Sherrice questioned.

"Y…Yeah, uh…if you see anyone with red eyes, stay as far away as you can. They’re really dangerous."

"Nebula dangerous?"

Lan nodded. “I don’t want us to get into any sort of fights before the booster program is up for grabs, so…”

Sherrice paused, then questioned, “Okay, if dark chip users have red eyes, what about plain Nebula members?”

"…I hadn’t thought of that," Lan weakly admitted, paling slightly. Sherrice stared at Lan in sheer disbelief.

"…so we’re pretty much going to have to hope for a miracle and that the Nebula guy just ups and reveals himself?"

"…e-essentially."

Sherrice sighed, slowly shaking her head. “I really, really hope you have something in mind, Lan.”

"I do, don’t worry!" Lan tried to assure. "Everything will be alright!"

The two gradually made their way to the room where the Booster program was being sold, the auction starting.

"I really hope you have a plan here…" Sherrice muttered.

"I-I do. Sort of. Part of a plan," Lan mumbled.

Just as the auction began, the lights went out, save for the glow of a few PETs. A few pained yelps sounded from near the front of the room before the lights turned back on, revealing the kid in the hoodie, along with a brown-haired teenager wearing a white bandanna with red eyes, having nabbed the Booster program.

"So they’re the Nebula agents?" Lan wondered, quietly, as he gripped his PET.

"This was easier than I thought it was!" the bandanna-wearer boasted.

"With this…Master Regal will be so pleased! Ahaha!" the kid with the hoodie boasted.

People began to realize what was going on and fled the room in a panic, leaving Sherrice and Lan in the room with the two dark chip users. The kid Lan met on deck approached him, a glare in his eyes.

"So, you’re Master Regal’s enemy…I am Dingo, and my partner in crime is Fyrefox. If I were you, I would get going with the rest of the passengers."

"Not in a million years! Dingo, Fyrefox, I know you two wouldn’t dare do this—"

"And how do you know, kid?" Fyrefox challenged Lan, looking coldly down at him. "We don’t know you, you don’t know us."

"I know that the dark chips make people try to hurt others! Even if we’ve never known each other, there’s no way you two would be criminals!" Lan responded.

"Like you would know! You hardly know some of the people who’ve been taken, don’t you?" Dingo questioned.

"W-Well, yes…"

"Then what reason do you have to ‘save’ us? You could just as easily only rescue the people you care more for! In the end, the rest of us just get thrown to the wayside and ignored, because we were ‘saved’, right?"

Lan paused, then shook his head, looking at Dingo back strongly.

"For starters, that would be too easy to do. I don’t think I could ever look at Iris or any one of my friends again if I decided to just not to rescue the people who need to be helped…so no, I won’t just let the people I don’t know get ignored over the ones I care about," Lan answered.

Dingo snorted before tossing the Booster program over his shoulder. Fyrefox caught it and set it down on the pedestal it was on before.

"Whatever. If you’re so determined to help us, then prove it!"

Dingo slotted in some sort of chip, and a Dimensional Area engulfed the room. Lan tossed Sherrice the spare Synchro Chip Iris had given to him earlier.

"Huh…?"

"Lan, she might not be crossfusion compatible!" Megaman pointed out.

"I know, I know, but what else can we do? We need to at least try!" Lan responded.

"Crossfusion? Lan, tell me what that is!" Sherrice demanded, noticing Dingo and Fyrefox slot in similar chips.

"You merge with your Navi, which is what they’re doing and what we need to do right now! I’m sorry I didn’t explain earlier, but we need to stop them!" Lan explained, taking out his Synchro Chip and slotting it into his PET.

Sherrice gulped nervously before using the chip, bracing herself for the transformation. It didn’t…hurt, but it felt odd. Blue and white boots resembling Rideman’s own covered her legs, matching armor covering the top half of her body. Something akin to a shawl covered the armor, and a buster that seemed to mimic a gun formed on her hand, with six rounds built into the buster.

By the time she finished transforming, so had Lan and their opponents. Dingo seemed to be wearing some sort of war bonnet, a rather large tomahawk in his hands. His armor was reddish-brown, Lan being reminded of how Pride looked crossfused with Knightman a while ago. Fyrefox was wearing blue and gold armor, two cannons on his back and a helmet with a visor covering most of his face.

"L…Lan? What the heck just…" Sherrice questioned.

“You and your Navi merged, of course!” Lan responded. “I know this isn’t the best time to introduce you to all this, but this is the only way we can stop them!”

"The only way…"

Dingo immediately charged at Lan, preparing to swing his tomahawk. Lan yelped and slotted in a Long Sword chip to counter his opponent. Fyrefox was a lot slower in comparison to his teammate, giving Sherrice a little breathing room to avoid his attacks, but she had the feeling he would hit hard if she gave him just one opportunity to touch her.

"Just give it up!" Fyrefox shouted. "This almost feels unfair, trying to hit someone who hasn’t crossfused a day in her life!"

"I’m not going to give up! Why can’t you two just come along quietly?" Sherrice questioned.

"They’re not going to listen!" Lan pointed out, sounding a bit sad. "We have to knock them out, it’s the only way, so aim for the Navi emblems!"

Sherrice nodded, yelping when some sort of bomb just barely missed her, exploding at the edge of the Dimensional Area. That got too close for comfort…Dingo and Lan were still battling with their weapons, Lan trying to stay out of reach for Dingo to grab and slice with his tomahawk. He quickly used a gun chip, firing at Dingo. One of the shots cracked the Navi emblem, and Dingo staggered, grabbing at the emblem in pain.

"Ngh…w…what…where…" he gasped, blinking in confusion. His eyes suddenly flickered to brown for a moment, looking frightened and confused.

"Dingo?" Fyrefox questioned, looking at him in curiosity. Sherrice took that moment to fire a charged shot at Fyrefox’s Navi emblem. It shattered, and Fyrefox cried out in pain before he collapsed. Dingo’s eyes immediately switched to red, but before he could dash at Lan, the opposing boy shot and hit the Navi emblem on Dingo. The boy seized up in pain before falling to the ground, the Dimensional Area vanishing. Dingo and Fyrefox were unconscious as they separated from their Navis, their PETs lying before them. Lan and Sherrice cautiously approached them once they had gone back to normal.

"…we need to get them off the ship now, right?" Sherrice guessed.

"Yeah. This…isn’t going to look pretty, though," Lan admitted.

Sherrice gave a quick sigh before beginning to slowly drag Fyrefox out of the room, Lan following suit with Dingo after grabbing the PETs.

—

Iris watched as the ship pulled back into port, a crowd of people on the deck. Lan and his friend weren’t among them…

The doors to the room closest to the exit of the ship swung open, and Lan exited the room while dragging someone behind him. Sherrice followed behind him, also dragging someone behind her. The two got off the ship, the crowd watching them with shocked eyes. Iris ducked behind a few crates, not wanting to be seen with Lan and Sherrice out of worry they’d connect the incident to her.

"Iris?" Lan asked once the two had caught up to her. "What do we…"

"SciLabs. We’ll deal with them there, people are watching!" Iris pointed out, quietly. Lan and Sherrice nodded and proceeded to quickly drag away the two Iris recognized from her list as Dingo and Fyrefox. Had they gone after the Booster program?

Once the commotion died down, Iris fled back to SciLabs, wondering how people would react to what had happened on-board.

—

At Nebula’s base, Regal was leaving his command room, going down the hall to a room marked ‘Baryl’. Barrett and Teisel were carefully watching from a room down the hall from Baryl’s, waiting for the door to close before they quietly stepped past the room and hurried down the hall towards Yuichiro’s cell. The man shrank back in his chair when Barrett and Teisel approached him.

"W-What do you want? If it’s about the SoulNet, I’m not…"

"Calm down. Geez, Regal’s done a number on you, hasn’t he?" Barrett guessed.

"Why does it matter to you?"

"Well, we want information ourselves, but Regal’s telling us nothing. He’s keeping stuff I think we should know, but he doesn’t feel it’s worth it to tell us," Teisel responded.

This made Yuichiro pause and look at the two in confusion. “He hasn’t said anything? Anything at all?”

"Nope. All we know is that it was enough to make you curse at us. A lot," Barrett answered, shrugging.

"And," Teisel added, sounding almost grumpy, "we’re not the only ones. Every other worker in here pretty much has no clue what Regal’s up to, and no one likes it."

"So he’s…he’s trying to keep it such a secret…I almost thought he had trust in his workers…"

"Look, this is going to probably be a little…uncomfortable for you to share, but…what did Regal tell you?" Barrett asked.

Just as Yuichiro opened his mouth, Barrett and Teisel heard footsteps and froze up, realizing the footsteps were coming their way. Regal entered the cell with a disapproving look on his face, looking squarely at his two peons.

"My, my. I had no idea apparently two of my men would go against orders and try to find out something behind my back."


	11. Chapter 11

Barrett was just about shaking in fear as Regal slowly stepped towards the three, a dour look on the older man’s face.

"L-Lord Regal, I—"

"Oh, spare me the excuses. You think I didn’t know what you two were up to?" Regal interrupted, coldly.

"We’re your men!" Teisel pointed out, angered with Regal. "You expect all of Nebula to just up and work with you if you blatantly choose to keep us all in the dark?"

"I expect you all to simply comply—I’m the one who will rule the world once I get XD001 ready and hooked up to the SoulNet! You two are lucky to be even a foot soldier by my command!" Regal snapped.

"Even your own men deserve to know what you’re doing! Lord Regal, just tell us!" Barrett pleaded.

Regal seemed about ready to lash out against the two before taking a deep breath, shutting his eye for a moment.

"…you know what? I don’t have the time for this today."

He stormed away for a few minutes, leaving Barrett, Teisel and Yuichiro in a anxious silence. The three weren’t sure if they should speak or not, Barrett gulping nervously as Regal returned with two keys with Barrett’s and Teisel’s names on them.

"S-Sir?"

Regal tossed the keys onto the ground in front of his disorderly subordinates, looking at the two threateningly.

"You are both relieved of duty. If you two are not off the premises within the hour, I won’t hesitate to make you both use dark chips yourselves," he warned, "or if you speak another word to my prisoners."

Regal walked away and went back into Baryl’s room, his frown turning into a grin as he entered the padded room. Baryl had changed quite a bit during the past few days—before, the man was protesting as Regal chained him up, especially the collar around his neck. Now, Baryl looked ragged, eyes glowing a dim red. His PET was kept just out of reach, and at a cursory glance one could tell Colonel was in no better shape.

"How is XD001 doing today?" Regal asked in a falsely sweet tone.

Baryl raised his head and growled at Regal, not moving from where he was.

"Now, now, is that any way to greet your master? I thought I taught you better than that," Regal chided, bending down by Baryl. The growling slowly stopped, though Baryl didn’t look any happier. The man didn’t speak as Regal examined him, then his PET.

"Progess is being made quite quickly. Perhaps your will against dark chips wasn’t so strong after all," Regal noted.

Baryl gave a snarl that lasted only for a moment; a glare from Regal silenced him. Colonel gave no response at all in the slightest to protest Regal’s action against his Operator.

"Hm…I suppose this will do. I might need to try another round or two of dark chips…" Regal muttered as he left the room, shutting the door behind him. He walked past Yuichiro’s cell, noting Barrett and Teisel had gone, and to another room labeled "Yuriko". The room past the door looked heavily out of place for a room within Nebula’s headquarters: it resembled an actual room, complete with a bed, a place to charge a PET, a bookshelf filled with a number of books, and a window with iron bars to keep the prisoner inside.

A woman with dark brown hair was sitting on the bed, holding a blue and purple PET. She raised her head to look at Regal with fear as he walked in.

"What do you want now?" she questioned.

"Yuriko, my darling, you don’t need to look so frightened," Regal attempted to assure. Yuriko recoiled when he tried to take a step closer.

"Don’t touch me! You’ve lost that right after kidnapping people like this!" she snapped, scowling.

Regal made a noise of disapproval, taking a step back. “You should consider yourself lucky I haven’t made you use a dark chip like the rest of them!”

"Lucky?" Yuriko repeated, shoulders tensing. "I should consider myself lucky I’m not being tortured? What gives you the right to do all this?"

"The right?" Regal repeated, almost curiously. "Why, Yuriko, I have the right because I’m the one who created dark chips in the first place! Shouldn’t I get to dictate what happens to the people who use them?"

"You’re kidnapping people and making them use them!" Yuriko pointed out. "Is this what Wily would have wanted? Especially with Baryl?"

Regal snorted. “Of course it isn’t. That isn’t going to work with me. Yuriko, I took you away because I hoped to rekindle our bond.”

"Forget it already! Regal, it isn’t going to happen, and you know it!"

Regal sighed, his smirk turning into a frown. “Oh, how well today is going…” he muttered before leaving, slamming the door behind him.

—

Iris returned to SciLabs, Lan trying to explain as much as he could to Sherrice about the situation. The blonde looked shocked and angered at what Lan was telling her, until the two noticed Iris had returned.

"Iris, uh…sorry we had to…"

"It’s fine, it’s fine," Iris interrupted, approaching the two. "You got back two more people, I’ll handle the news tomorrow. Sherrice, I apologize you got caught up in this mess."

"…Iris, if it’s alright…I’d like to help you and Lan. After seeing all that on the ship…for what it’s worth, I think your cause is worth fighting for," Sherrice decided.

Iris gave a small smile. “Thank you. I appreciate any help we can get. I would like to apologize for simply throwing you into our mess.”

"I wish I was told more sooner. I can tell this isn’t really something I should tell my parents about," Sherrice pointed out.

"Again, I’m really sorry…" Lan apologized. At once, Ballade.EXE appeared on the monitor, looking panicked.

"Iris! We’re under attack! Some Navi claiming to be from Nebula is attacking the security systems in place!"

Iris froze and hurried to the monitor. “Who’s the Navi?”

"I think his name was Cloudman? He was threatening to bring all of Nebula to SciLabs!" Ballade reported. Cloudman warped behind Ballade at that moment, preparing to strike.

"Ballade!" Iris gasped.

Just before Cloudman could hurt Ballade, the dark Navi froze. A blade was driven into him from behind. Lan hurried to the monitor and sighed in relief when he saw Zero.EXE step out from behind Cloudman as he began to disappear from the fatal blow.

"Zero! I didn’t realize you were still here!" Lan greeted, relieved.

"Lan, I’m glad to see you too," Zero greeted, nodding. "I was busy warding off those Navis that are claiming to be affiliated with Nebula—I didn’t get the chance to make sure everything was alright."

"Lan? Who is he?" Iris asked.

"He’s Zero! He was created by W3 as a virus, but my dad was able to turn him into a Navi!" Lan introduced. Iris seemed noticeably worried at the mention of World Three, but gave a small nod to Zero.

"It’s…nice to meet you. I’m Iris, and I’m currently leading the main operations against Nebula. We’ve gotten back six people out of 17 so far, and we’re hoping to get back more," she informed.

"It’s a start," Zero noted. "I apologize if my being from World Three disturbs you in the slightest, I know it’s not the best place to be created."

Iris nodded stiffly before asking, “Zero, can you keep up protecting SciLabs from Nebula’s Navis for a while? I know, it’s not the most glamorous job in the world, but at the moment I don’t have anyone else to place on guard duty.”

"Ahem," Ballade coughed.

"Aside from Ballade," Iris added. "I need them for browsing the Net and other duties."

"I’m fully willing and able to fight," Zero responded. "I will, however, come back in every now and then to make sure everything is alright. I don’t want to be kept out of the loop."

"Sounds alright to me—"

The sound of something crashing alerted Lan, Sherrice and Iris. After a few moments, Pride stumbled into the room, looking alarmed.

"Someone…someone, anyone, needs to get over here…Charlie and Miyabi went into hyper mode!"


	12. Chapter 12

"Hyper mode?" Lan repeated, looking at Iris.

"Pride suggested the name for when anyone affected by dark chips suddenly just can’t handle themselves. It’s ridiculous, I know, but it’s what we’ve got."

Iris looked at Sherrice. “Are you coming with us?”

Sherrice didn’t hesitate to nod. “Just lead the way.”

—

Dingo and Fyrefox were still out cold, much to Lan’s relief, as he, Iris and Sherrice hurried into the room holding those still under the dark chip’s power. Tesla was trying to keep her distance from Miyabi, a dangerous look in the assassin’s eyes. Charlie was huddled in a corner, eyes glowing bright red.

"Get away from me…!" Tesla snapped at Miyabi, but the man refused to listen, inching closer until Iris ran out in front of her, shielding her.

"Move."

Iris shook her head before raising her hand. Miyabi seemed about ready to lash out before his shoulders slackened, the fight draining out of him.

"I didn’t want to do this, but I need to shut you down for a little sleep. I’ll have to work with you later, okay?"

Miyabi stumbled backwards before collapsing against a wall and sinking to the floor, unconscious. Iris and Lan slowly approached Charlie, the blonde glaring at them.

"Stay away from me," he spat. "Aren’t I as dangerous as Miyabi?"

"We don’t know that yet," Iris responded, carefully. "What happened? Why did you two just…go into hyper mode?"

"Is that what you’re calling this?" Charlie questioned.

"Well, Pride suggested the name earlier…but that’s not the point! What happened?" Iris responded.

"I…" Charlie began, faltering. "…I don’t know…suddenly I just felt like…like the entire sky would just start falling around me because of you all…"

Iris knelt by him. “It won’t. The sky is always going to be there, you know,” she tried to assure.

"Will it? Nowadays, it doesn’t feel like it," Charlie muttered.

"Some things are always going to be there; the sky, the clouds, the sun, the stars, the moon…they’re not going to go away," Iris reminded, gently. Charlie slowly nodded, Lan guessing he was trying to understand what Iris was saying. "It’s a little hard to describe, but…well, time passes. Some stuff is always going to stay the same, some stuff doesn’t. What you and Miyabi are going through will eventually pass, I promise."

"…that…that makes sense," Charlie conceded, slowly calming down.

Iris raised a hand. “Just rest now, okay? I promise you’ll be safe while you rest…” she urged. Charlie gave a little nod before he fell asleep as well. Sherrice had stayed behind, looking at Iris with shocked eyes.

"…you just…made them fall asleep? Just like that?" she questioned.

"It’s a thing she can do! It’s, uh…well, I don’t really know how she can do it, but it helps!" Lan admitted.

Sherrice looked very doubtful of that, a worried expression on her face. This gave Lan pause; he had just accepted Iris’ power without another thought, given he and Megaman had their own little link, but…maybe he shouldn’t have blindly took her at face value?

"…um, I need to start going home. My parents might be getting worried about me once news spreads about what happened at the ship," the blonde pointed out.

"Right, I should go too…erm, I really hope the fallout from today isn’t too bad," Lan mumbled as he and Sherrice left SciLabs.

—

_Lan found himself standing near a volcano, the sky pitch-black. He had his PET with him, but when he looked at it, Megaman had a blank expression on his face, eyes wide._

_"Megaman?" he prompted. The Navi didn’t respond. "Megaman? Hub, say something! Anything!"_

_He lowered the PET to see Iris standing a few feet away, eyes wide._

_"L…Lan…how could you…"_

_"Iris, wha…"_

_Lan heard footsteps behind him, and he turned to see Regal, looking a bit too gleeful for Lan to feel safe._

_"Attack her!" Regal commanded. Lan suddenly lost control his body, and he stepped towards Iris, gripping her arm—_

Lan immediately woke up in his bed, shaking like a leaf. He didn’t move for a few moments, unsure if he was still dreaming or not. The boy slowly pulled himself into a sitting position, horrified at his nightmare. The clock read 1:38 AM when he glanced over at it.

"…Lan?" Megaman quietly asked, uneasy. Lan grabbed his PET, looking at his Navi out of fear.

"…nightmare. I…I don’t want us to wind up like the others Regal kidnapped…" Lan mumbled.

"Don’t worry, Lan. I’m sure we’ll be okay," Megaman tried to assure.

"But it’s going to be awful if we get caught! Our link…it could be…"

"Lan," Megaman repeated, strongly. When Lan looked at him, the blue Navi pointed out, "We have six people back. Pride and Telsa recovered, and Charlie and Miyabi are going to follow suit soon. Dingo and Fyrefox are going to take some time, but otherwise? We’ve got several people on our side, we can handle what Regal throws at us."

Lan slowly nodded, taking a deep breath. “You…You’re right, I shouldn’t get so scared…”

The PET started to beep at that moment. “You got a new email, Lan!” Megaman announced. Lan checked the message.

" ‘Lan, when you get this, get to SciLabs when you can. We’re going to go scouting for the Undernet’s…’ W-Wait, is she serious?! She wants to go and look for Serenade?" Lan nearly exclaimed upon reading the message.

"I don’t think Serenade would be good crossfusion material for anyone. He’s the King of the Undernet, it’s not like you could just find someone to crossfuse with him…" Megaman noted.

"On the plus side…we’ll get to see Mamoru again if we go looking for Serenade, I’ll bet. I haven’t seen him since those tournaments, and I really want to talk to him again!" Lan hoped.

"Same here!" Megaman chimed. "But for now, I think we really need to rest. It’s going to be another long day tomorrow."

Lan nodded and placed his PET back on the charger before curling up in bed.

"Night, Lan."

"Night, Hub."


	13. Chapter 13

The following morning, Lan went into SciLabs, Kai and Sherrice already there and talking to one another while Iris was typing away on a computer. Kai seemed quite energetic, gesturing and telling some story Lan eventually realized was something he had told him about a while ago, while Sherrice looked half-awake, only nodding as she listened to Kai’s tale.

"And then Master Lan—oh! Master Lan’s here!" Kai realized, giving a cheerful wave. Sherrice yawned and simply raised a hand in greeting.

”Hey, guys,” Lan greeted with a nod. “I’m glad to see you two have met each other now.”

"Indeed. I listened to Iris’ plan on recruiting the king of the Undernet, and while I do think we need more people…I’ve heard of the king before moving to Electopia, and I don’t think anyone could possibly crossfuse with them," Sherrice pointed out.

"We at least need them on our side," Iris replied. "I certainly wouldn’t want to deal with the Undernet’s king under the control of dark chips."

Lan couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of Serenade working with Nebula, forced or under the dark chip’s influence. The Undernet wasn’t safe as is, but adding on dark chips…no, no, he wasn’t going to go there.

"I know where the king of the Undernet is," Lan admitted, surprising the others. "I…know who their operator might be, actually."

"You do?" the three NetOps said at once.

"Yeah, I’ve known them since…before those tournaments, I think? I haven’t…talked to them in a while," Lan admitted.

"Then you two need to get back in touch. They aren’t people who would work with Nebula, right?" Iris asked, sounding worried.

"Of course not! Mamoru and Serenade wouldn’t dare work with creeps like them!" Lan strongly responded.

"I see. I believe we need to go see him now," Iris decided. "And…er…Lan, I have something to admit, I didn’t…I haven’t been able to find anything that could help me build a machine to purify those infected with dark chips."

Lan just blinked at Iris for a few moments, then nodded. “It makes sense…there really wasn’t anything like this before, was there?”

Iris could only shake her head. “I almost wish there was so we’d have some idea of what to do, but…that seems a bit too cruel to wish for.”

"…er…what are you guys talking about?" Kai piped up, he and Sherrice looking confused.

Lan and Iris paused, shortly before she explained, “I told Lan I was trying to figure out a machine that could help with purifying the people still more or less under the dark chip’s power, but there’s nothing I could find that could help.”

"Nothing at all?" Sherrice pressed.

"Nothing," Iris confirmed, looking stressed. "I’m sorry to have led Lan on like that. In any case…Lan, could you message your friend and tell him you need to talk to him in person?"

Lan nodded, and immediately started typing away a message on his PET. Sherrice looked at Iris with a wary expression, looking for something to say to the girl. Iris tried to look completely calm, though a hint of anxiety still showed on her face. Kai was peering over Lan’s shoulder, looking at the message.

"…so, once Lan finds this Mamoru character, who’s going?" Sherrice finally asked, breaking the silence.

"I will be going with Lan, at the very least. Do either of you want to come with?" Iris asked in turn.

"I wanna go!" Kai responded. "I wanna meet the king of the Undernet!"

"…I’ll go too. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to meet him," Sherrice decided.

"What about Tesla? And the others?" Lan asked, raising his head from his PET.

"Princess Pride and Tesla, from what I can see, are well enough to look after the others. Charlie, Miyabi, Dingo and Fyrefox should be asleep, so everything should be fine while we’re out," Iris responded, leaving her desk. "Tesla says she’s done grieving for her father, and I trust that she isn’t saying it for the sake of looking strong."

A beep came from Lan’s PET, and he quickly looked back at it to see a new message had come from Mamoru. “…ah! Mamoru messaged back! He says he’s in Yoka!” he reported.

"Then let’s head out," Iris decided. The group of four left the lab, heading to the subway to leave for Yoka.

—

At Nebula HQ, Mayl, Yai, and Dex were being held in separate cells, eyes shut. It was hard to tell if the three were conscious or not, until Regal walked into the room.

"Wake up, children," he commanded. The three opened their eyes, now bright red, and fixed their gazes on the older man as he looked down on them, grinning. None of the children showed the slightest hint of emotion, simply blinking and staring at Regal.

"I see you’ve all finally decided to cooperate with me. Excellent…now, what do you three remember of Lan Hikari?" he questioned.

Maryl was the first to react, frowning darkly and eyes narrowing. “…hate him…didn’t try to save us…” she responded, quietly.

"…didn’t come to save us…" Yai muttered, face scrunched up into a fierce glare. "Left us to suffer…"

"…deserves to go through what we did…he doesn’t deserve to be free…" Dex replied, sounding almost hollow, face still devoid of expression.

"I’m so glad we’re on the same page now," Regal warmly commented. He grabbed a remote and pressed a button to open the cells. "Now…there is a NetBattler by the name of Tamako Shiraizumi, and I believe having her on our side would make fighting Lan and his group much easier. Go and retrieve her. Oh…and if you run into Lan, attempt to capture him the moment you see him. I’ve had enough of him ruining my plans."

"Yes, Master Regal," the three NetOps responded, standing up and exiting their cells. Regal gave them each one Dark Synchro Chip.

"May your mission be successful, dear children."


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hi, I come back from a hiatus and a long session of looking up facts from the Megaman Wiki to realize I have kind of messed with canon because of two things:
> 
> 1\. NetNavis corrupted by Dark Chips take on more purplish coloring, not the Chaos Union coloring I've been giving them so far.  
> 2\. Basically all of Sherrice's back story in Legend of Network.
> 
> So consider this a bit of a retcon for this AU: that the Trojan Horse virus was just sort of a super-virus and Sherrice is actually a Netopian who moved to Electopia.
> 
> I am so sorry for not doing more research on Sherrice and Legend of Network.

Yoka seemed quite peaceful as Lan and the others stepped out of the subway and into the village. A few people seemed to be on edge, but other than that, it was as though Regal wasn’t trying to kidnap people left and right.

“Alright…where is Mamoru’s home?” Iris asked, looking around the village.

“Mamoru said it shouldn’t be too far from the station…” Lan replied, trying to look for any sign of the younger boy. The four began to walk slowly, looking for Mamoru, until Lan spotted two very familiar NetOps in a front yard.

“Mamoru! Shun!” he called, breaking into a run towards them. Mamoru was no longer in a wheelchair, his hair looked slightly less like it was a bedridden mess, and his face had a healthier look to it now. He was in a light blue shirt with an emblem resembling Serenade’s on it and shorts, standing as tall as Shun’s shoulder. Mamoru’s eyes lit up at the sight of Lan, darting over to him.

“Lan! It’s great to see you again!” the younger boy greeted, cheerfully.

“You look like you’ve gotten so much better since you were in the hospital!” Lan noted before apologizing, in an embarrassed tone, “Er…sorry I haven’t really seen you since then.”

“You’ve been busy with the tournament and the meteor stuff, right?” Mamoru guessed. “I understand you had things to do then.”

“Still, I probably should have tried to visit you once or twice…” Lan admitted.

“I think it’s going to be alright, Lan,” Shun pointed out. “Again, you’ve been busy. You had to save the world. We’re not going to complain when you need to do something.”

Lan looked like he was going to protest further, but simply sighed and nodded. “Speaking of saving the world…you guys know what’s going on with other NetOps, right?”

Mamoru and Shun’s smiles faded as they looked at Lan in curiosity. “…you mean the ones who were kidnapped?” Mamoru asked.

Lan nodded. “They’re…kind of what my friends and I have to talk about with you two today,” he admitted as Iris, Sherrice, and Kai caught up to Lan.

“Lan, please warn us when you take off like that…who are these guys?” Sherrice asked, looking at the two boys behind Lan in curiosity.

“These two are Mamoru and Shun! I’ve been friends with them for a while,” Lan brightly responded. “I haven’t gotten to talk too much with them since all the stuff involving Duo, as much as I wish I had…”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you two,” Iris greeted, giving a small nod. “I am Iris.”

“I’m Kai!” Kai said cheerfully, smiling.

“And I’m Sherrice. It’s a pleasure to meet you two,” Sherrice added.

“Nice to meet you three,” Shun responded with a short nod. “Now that we’re all acquainted, should we head inside to talk a little more?”

The NetOps walked into Mamoru’s house, Sherrice shutting the door behind her once everyone was inside. The mood turned serious as they gathered at a table in the kitchen area.

“First things first, how much do you two know about Nebula?” Lan asked.

“They kidnapped a lot of people, including your dad,” Mamoru responded.

“One of them being Gauss’ daughter, right?” Shun questioned.

Iris nodded. “Do you two know about dark chips?”

“…we’ve come across them once or twice,” Mamoru admitted, frowning at the mention of dark chips.

“In our defense, the Undernet’s a shady place. Freezeman and I were offered a few by some merchant who tried to hype them up, but we turned them down,” Shun explained.

“And you two also know about Doctor Regal, right?” Lan asked.

“Didn’t he die or something?” Shun wondered, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, we wish. We  _wish_ ,” Sherrice responded, crossing her arms. “He’s using dark chips to corrupt Navis and their Operators.”

Shun’s eyes widened, and Mamoru grimaced, eyes narrowing. “So that’s why…”

“Don’t worry, we’re doing okay so far!” Lan quickly interrupted Mamoru. “We got back Princess Pride, Tesla Magnus, Dark Miyabi, Charlie Airstar, Dingo, and Fyrefox so far!”

“Some of them were Gospel members…Regal has some nerve taking people who worked with me!” Shun bitterly remarked.

“Are they okay?” Mamoru asked, quietly.

“Not exactly. Pride and Tesla have recovered enough they could accompany us on missions, but the other four? Well…” Lan responded, trailing off.

“Charlie and Miyabi didn’t take very well to dark chips,” Iris explained. “They might recover faster, if all goes well. Dingo and Fyrefox were only recovered recently…”

“What about their Navis?” Mamoru questioned.

“Based off SciLab’s findings with the dark chips, I created a proto-vaccine that tries to eliminate more of the dark chip’s power. I might try something of a system restore if the final version of the vaccine fails,” Iris explained. “So to answer your question, they are currently offline and hopefully dark chip-free.”

The door suddenly opened, and the kids froze before slowly relaxing when they saw it was just Tamako walking into the house, closing the door and locking it behind her.

“Tamako!” Lan greeted, smiling.

“Hey, Lan! You didn’t tell me you were coming over!” Tamako noted, looking over the small group. “What’s going on here, Mamoru?”

“Uh, sorry for interrupting, but…is this your house, Tamako?” Lan asked.

“Yeah, of course this is! Wouldn’t be waltzing in here otherwise. Mamoru’s living with me while his parents get their finances stable,” Tamako confirmed.

“She’s my aunt,” Mamoru quickly clarified.

“His  _best_  aunt!” Tamako boasted, a proud grin on her face. “I’ve been helping take care of him since he was three! That aside, though…”

Her tone grew serious as she asked, “Seriously, what’s going on here? It’s not every day I see a bunch of kids huddled around my table looking like they’re discussing the end of the world.”

“Well, uh…you know about the kidnappings and Nebula, right?” When Tamako nodded, Lan explained, “You see, Regal–that guy who worked with Dad during the whole thing with the meteor–he’s the one kidnapping them. He’s forcing them to use these dark chips, which corrupt them, and…and we have to fight them.”

Tamako stared at Lan with wide eyes for a moment, jaw nearly dropping. “…I’m sorry, what? What?”

“It’s as ridiculous as it sounds, trust us,” Sherrice muttered.

“And what’s he doing after he’s corrupted the NetOps?” Tamako questioned, narrowing her eyes.

“He’s just sent them after us. We have no idea what he’s planning,” Iris admitted.

“We came here to ask Mamoru and Shun help us,” Lan informed, glancing at the mentioned pair. “We have a way to fight back. The only problem is if they can use it or not…”

“Why couldn’t we use whatever ‘it’ is?” Shun asked.

Before Lan could answer, the doorknob suddenly rattled. The NetOps tensed up, Tamako slowly backing away from the door.

“…not expecting anyone else to come in here today?” Iris asked Tamako, glancing towards her.

“Nope. Think it might be someone from Nebula?” Tamako asked in turn, keeping her eyes on the door.

Iris nodded, looking around the house. There was a sliding door leading to a fenced-in backyard, and as far as she could tell, it was empty.

“Through the backyard!” she ordered, hurrying over to the sliding door and pulling it open. The group ran out into the backyard, Lan grabbing his PET and reaching for a Synchro Chip.

“Whoever’s at the door might see us if we try to sneak past…but we don’t know how strong dark chip users are, do we?” Sherrice questioned Iris. To her dismay, Iris shook her head.

“We don’t know, I never thought about testing that…” Iris admitted, embarrassed.

“You never thought about testing anyone we captured to see if they had abnormal strength? I’m pretty sure that should have been something to worry about!” Sherrice pointed out.

“The problem is, how would I test it? It’s not like SciLabs has a gym built in for me to see if they can bench press their own weight!” Iris countered.

The sound of something landing distracted the two from a possible argument, and Lan gasped, taking a few steps back. There, perched on the fence in front of Lan, was Yai Ayanokoji. Her skin was oddly pale, her eyes shining bright red.

“Yai! No…you couldn’t have…” Lan realized, horrified.

“What’s wrong, Lan? I thought you’d be happy to see me again!” Yai sneered, glaring at Lan. “Or did you miss Mayl more than me?”

“No, of course not! I worried about you and Dex, too!” Lan responded, shaking his head. “Apparently for a good reason…Yai, you don’t have to fight us, we can help you three!”

“Oh, shut up! Tsk, we hoped to just get Tamako while she was alone, but it seems we’ll have to take her and your little group back to Master Regal!” Yai decided.

“You know we won’t let you!” Kai declared as he and Sherrice grabbed their PETs. “We’re going to snap you guys out of this dark chip stuff, no matter what!”

Yai snorted before whistling sharply. “Dex! Mayl! Over here!”

A part of the fence close to the house opened up to reveal Dex and Mayl, both with similarly pallid skin and red eyes. Dex took out his PET and slotted in a chip. A Dimensional Area rose up around the backyard, preventing anyone from escaping or entering the place. Tamako chose to stand protectively in front of Mamoru, wanting to shield him physically from whatever was about to happen.

“So I guess it’s not as simple as a fight between Navis, huh?” Tamako guessed.

“If only it was! Sherrice, Kai, time to crossfuse!” Lan prompted. Kai and Sherrice proceeded grab their PETs and Synchro Chips, the three prepared to activate the chips.

“Come on, Lan, I thought we were friends! Or are these guys your new friends now?” Mayl questioned as she, Dex, and Yai took out their PETs and Dark Synchro Chips.

“He replaced us!” Dex accused. “We were never good enough for Lan, the hero who always saves the day! We only get in the way, don’t we Lan?”

“Of course not!” Lan argued, wincing. “I didn’t replace you guys! I needed Iris and the others’ help! I wouldn’t ever think about replacing you guys!”

“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” Yai asked, gripping her PET tightly. Glyde, inside the PET, was staring straight ahead; his coloring had degraded from brown with gold accents to purple with silver accents, his eyes as red as Yai’s.

“Yeah, how do we know you’re telling the truth? You didn’t come running after us when were kidnapped!” Dex pointed out.

“We didn’t know where you three were!” Iris argued. “We would have rescued you if we knew where Regal was!”

“Liar! You knew, didn’t you?” Mayl questioned.

“They don’t want to be honest! Come on, it’s time to fight!” Yai prompted.

“Synchro Chip, slot in!” Lan, Sherrice, Kai, Mayl, Dex, and Yai shouted, slotting in their respective Synchro Chips. Tamako ushered Mamoru and Shun away from the fight about to happen, looking on helplessly.

“Synchro Chips…?” Mamoru wondered, peeking at the scene from behind Tamako. The six NetOps were shrouded in light, the shining dying down a few moments later. Mayl looked almost like a carbon copy of Roll, save for her eyes, hair color, and purple coloring all over the outfit. Yai wore purple armor with silver highlights, the wings from Glyde’s appearance drooping. Dex had blue and aqua armor, bands of dark gray metal covering his arms. All of their Navi emblems were located on their chests.

“Lan…we’ll make this fast,” Sherrice promised.

“I don’t like seeing my friends like this, they know I wouldn’t abandon them…what has Regal done to them?” Lan wondered, quietly.

Mayl and Dex charged at Lan and Kai, Dex preparing to swing at Kai. Kai zipped out of the way, yelping in surprise. Lan tried to back away from Mayl as she summoned a bow and arrow, the dark chip-infected fighter aiming an arrow at Lan’s Navi emblem. Lan shielded his emblem with an arm, grunting in pain when the arrow hit his arm.

Sherrice and Yai were fighting a ways away from the other four, Sherrice trying to evade Yai’s line of fire. The small blonde was using Glyde Cannon, trying to keep Sherrice from landing a direct hit on her.

“Why do you want to hurt Lan so much? He was worried sick about you!” Sherrice pointed out, praying she could distract Yai by talking.

“Because he didn’t try to save us! He has to suffer like us!” Yai retorted, raising her cannon and trying to fire at Sherrice’s emblem.

“Are you kidding? I haven’t known him as long as you and the others have, but he’s upset to see you guys like this! We have no clue where Nebula even  _is_!” Sherrice countered, running away from the fire.

“It’s still not fair! He has to suffer too!” Yai answered, voice sounding strained for a moment. She hesitated to fire, lowering her head for a moment.

“He…Lan…”

Sherrice aimed her buster at Yai’s Navi emblem. “You can get mad at me later, but…!” she uttered before firing six shots in rapid succession at the emblem. Yai cried out in pain as the emblem shattered, the crossfusion becoming undone as she fell to her knees.

“N…No…” Yai gasped out, looking at Sherrice with a pained look in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, I hope you’ll understand once you’re yourself again,” Sherrice apologized just before Yai collapsed and lost consciousness, her PET landing beside her.

Kai was stuck trying to dodge Dex’s swinging fists, zipping away from him. Dex seemed irritated at how fast Kai was.

“Stay still, would you?!” he growled at Kai.

“Can’t do that! Sorry!” Kai apologized, trying to zip around Dex. If only he could get a clear shot…!

Dex slammed his fists on the ground, causing a brief tremor that knocked his opponent off his feet. Kai grunted in pain as he fell to the ground, scrambling to get back onto his feet. It proved to be a challenge for him, given his footwear, at the moment, heavily resembled rollerblades.

“Oh, no no no no…!”

Kai yelped as suddenly Dex picked him up, hand clenched around his neck. Dex grinned, declaring, “Caught you!”

Kai felt the grip on his neck start to tighten, and he grabbed at the hand in an attempt to lighten the pressure. He was sure he could hear his heart pound in his chest as he tried to think of something he could do–oh, wait. The obvious solution was staring at him in the face.

He reluctantly took aim at Dex’s Navi emblem and fired his buster, the grip on his neck immediately loosening as the emblem cracked. Dex looked down at his emblem, eyes wide as the crack started to spread.

“What…?”

“I’m sorry,” Kai apologized, wincing as Dex’s shock slowly turned to horror as the emblem began to break. “I hope when you’re you again, we can be friends…”

Dex’s emblem shattered, and the crossfusion broke, his PET falling beside him. He fell to the ground, losing consciousness in an instant.

Lan couldn’t do much but flee from Mayl as she fired arrow after arrow at him, with him trying to shield his Navi emblem. He vaguely resembled a walking blue pincushion, given the number of pinkish-purple arrows sticking out of him.

'Lan, we have to find a way to fight back!’ Megaman pointed out, sounding worried.

'She’ll just fire an arrow at our emblem if I try to attack! What do we do?’ Lan silently asked back, yelping as Mayl fired another arrow that hit his back.

Megaman was about to answer when Sherrice and Kai zipped up towards Mayl, colliding with her in an attempt to help slow her down.

’…that works.’

Mayl was pulled up by Sherrice, struggling in her grasp. There was a small crack on her emblem, Lan noticed, as he cautiously approached her.

“Let me go! Master Regal won’t be happy if you capture us!” she protested.

“Mayl, we can’t. We have to save you,” Lan responded, feeling a twinge of pain looking at her.

Her eyes flashed their normal color for a moment, and she looked frightened. “…Lan…what have we done…” Mayl mumbled.

“Mayl? Mayl, I’m not blaming you, you’re not…” Lan tried to explain before her eyes reverted to red, and she struggled more fiercely, trying to escape Sherrice. Kai quickly grabbed Mayl in an attempt to help Sherrice.

“You have to shoot her crest now!” Sherrice ordered Lan. When he made a pained face, she added, “I know, she’s your friend, but she’s under dark chip influence, Lan! She’s going to shoot you if you don’t shoot first!”

Lan hesitated to aim his buster at Mayl’s crest and fire. The emblem shattered, and she gave a cry of pain as the crossfusion came undone. Her PET fell to the ground as Sherrice and Kai let her drop to the ground. The Dimensional Area shimmered, then vanished without a trace, with Lan, Sherrice, and Kai defusing from their Navis, their PETs in hand.

Tamako stared at the unconscious kids, raising a hand to her mouth. “…oh my god…”

“They’ll be okay,” Iris promised.

“I’m sorry you guys had to watch all that…” Lan apologized, ducking his head.

“…this is what you guys go through? If I had known earlier, I would have jumped at the chance to help save the people kidnapped by Regal!” Tamako commented.

“The problem is whether or not you can crossfuse. So far we’ve been lucky with Lan, Sherrice, and Kai being able to crossfuse, but…not every Operator can, sometimes for a reason,” Iris pointed out.

“Is that why you weren’t fighting?” Tamako guessed. Iris nodded, then looked over at Shun and Mamoru. The two were staring at Lan with shock in their eyes; Iris guessed the fight was appalling to see.

“…so that’s what happens to Navis with dark chips,” Shun murmured.

“Only if you’re stuck with Regal,” Lan quickly pointed out. “We want you guys to help us, but…I want you both two knows that’s what we have to do to save people.”

“…Lan, you know I can’t crossfuse,” Mamoru quietly reminded. “I don’t have HBD anymore, but I couldn’t just…”

“We’re not asking for  _you_  to crossfuse. We’d like your help in gathering information whenever we need it,” Iris clarified.

“Yeah!” Lan chimed in. “We won’t ask you to do anything you don’t have to, Mamoru, I promise!”

“Then…I’ll consider it, just give me a day or two, okay?” Mamoru asked, sighing in relief when Lan nodded.

“So then you want me to try crossfusion,” Shun assumed, quirking an eyebrow. Before Lan could answer, he quickly responded, “I’ll help, I’ll help. I’m just…sort of shocked this is how we have to fight.”

“I know, it’s kind of violent. Welcome to the team, Shun,” Lan commented.

“If we’re all done talking, we need to get Mayl, Dex, and Yai back to SciLabs and hope the place hasn’t been burned to the ground because we left behind several people who may or may not still have dark chip power in them,” Iris prompted. She, Lan, Sherrice, Shun, and Kai began working together to drag the unconscious Operators back to SciLabs.

–

That evening, Mamoru sat at a desk in his room, looking down at his gold-and-black PET. On the desk lied a small personal computer, showing Mamoru’s empty home page. Within moments, however, Serenade popped up on screen.

“Good evening, Mamoru. I apologize for not showing up sooner, I had a few nuisances to take care of,” they apologized, a smile on their face.

“Huh? Oh, it’s alright, Serenade,” Mamoru responded with a little shrug.

“Is something the matter, Mamoru? You seem concerned,” Serenade noted, looking up at him. Mamoru hesitated, then nodded.

“You remember Lan and Megaman, right? Well…they want my help with the kidnapping cases. It’s a long story, but they need me to get information when they need it,” Mamoru tried to explain.

“I remember them! Ah, I wish they visited more often, I enjoy our bouts with those two…the kidnapping cases, hm? That doesn’t sound very difficult, but you sound worried,” Serenade recalled.

“Have you heard of Nebula? Or Doctor Regal? They’re behind the kidnappings, and considering the targets…” Mamoru began.

“You’re worried we could be next,” Serenade finished.

“Mm-hm. I know Lan won’t let us be kidnapped without a fight, but…I’m just worried. If Regal found out who we are, everyone would be in danger,” Mamoru confessed.

“Then we will just have to make sure they don’t spirit us away,” Serenade decided. “It doesn’t sound like it could be too hard.”

“I guess. I think I’ll go over to SciLabs in the morning and tell them that I’m willing to help. Do you agree to helping them, Serenade?”

“Of course I agree. I would like to see Lan and Megaman again, after all,” Serenade responded.

“Alright, then…”

Mamoru glanced over at the clock. It was already 9:21…

“I better sleep. Night, Serenade,” Mamoru mumbled, placing his PET on the desk.

“Good night, Mamoru,” Serenade responded, warping away.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you ever just accidentally finish a chapter of a fic earlier than you thought you would? Because hi have another chapter.

The following morning, Sherrice arrived early at SciLabs, Iris talking with a blue NetNavi on the screen behind her.

“So you think the cure’s working? I almost thought I’d have to try another one,” Iris admitted.

“It seems to be,” the blue Navi replied, sounding relieved. “Magnetman and Knightman show no signs of returning to their dark chip-controlled selves.”

“I see…have there been anymore attempts on SciLab’s network since last night?” Iris questioned the Navi.

“No. Zero’s been keeping an eye on the network alongside me, and it’s all clear. Is that all, Iris?”

Iris paused to think, and the Navi looked towards Sherrice, causing the blonde to jump. “…we have a visitor.”

Iris froze, and stiffly looked to see it was only Sherrice. Her shoulders slackened and she sighed in relief. “…I’m sorry, Sherrice, I didn’t realize you were there.”

“…it’s fine,” Sherrice responded, shrugging. “Look, I…I need to talk with you, Iris.”

“What is it?” Iris prompted.

“…I admit I can’t…I can’t trust you as easily as Lan and Kai do,” Sherrice confessed, looking at Iris in the eyes. “You just pop out of nowhere one day and convince SciLabs and Lan to help you fight Nebula, and by extension Regal. You haven’t told us anything about us aside from your name, you have the power to calm down people who still have dark chip power and yet you don’t fight, you’re just…who  _are_  you, Iris?”

Iris fell silent, a troubled look on her face. “…the power I have can’t be used when the target’s moving around. I can’t fight, never mind crossfusion…” she began.

“Kai and I were able to restrain Mayl long enough for Lan to shoot her Navi emblem yesterday. We could easily do it again, I don’t see why not,” Sherrice pointed out.

“You were fighting people your own age. Almost everyone else who was spirited away is an adult, or at least older than you two. If what I’m predicting is right, we’ll be fighting two soldiers, one from Sharo and one from Netopia. They won’t be very easy to restrain,” Iris countered.

“Good point, but…Iris, I want to know who you are. Please. I want to trust you, and maybe be friends with you, but it’s hard to build a bond when you hardly know anything about the other person,” Sherrice pled.

Iris bowed her head. “…I’m sorry, I…I can’t tell you yet.”

“Iris…!” Sherrice began, sounding upset.

“I know, I know, it’s unfair I’m possibly hiding secrets from you, Lan, and Kai, but…there’s a reason I can’t tell you three just yet. I promise, once Regal’s been taken care of and Nebula is no more, I’ll tell you guys and anyone else I have to about who I am and why I’m doing what I’m doing,” Iris promised.

“But why not now? What’s preventing you from telling everyone now?” Sherrice questioned.

“In short, my family and who I am to them,” Iris replied. “It’s…It’s a complicated issue. I don’t know how to explain it right now, given my father isn’t…the most pleasant person on the face of the planet.”

The brown-haired girl had a displeased look on her face, as if she didn’t want to give Sherrice those answers. “I’m sorry, Sherrice, I really am.”

Sherrice took a few moments to consider Iris’ words, then reluctantly nodded. “…I’ll hold you to your promise, Iris.”

“Thank you, Sherrice. Now…today, I’m giving you, Kai, and Lan a day off. To be honest, yesterday I was planning for us all to spend some time helping the Operators we’ve gotten back, but after seeing Lan’s reaction to shooting Mayl, I want work with Mayl, Dex, and Yai a little bit before he starts trying to coax them back to their original selves,” Iris explained.

Sherrice grimaced, crossing her arms. “Please tell me you’re not trying to baby Lan…”

“I’m not, but so far his friends are still at the ‘I think Regal is the best person in the world even though he likely mentally and psychologically tortured me, and Lan needs to be brought back to him so he can do the same to him’ part of being brainwashed. Tesla and Pride are well enough to help me restrain them if they have to, thankfully,” Iris explained.

“And what about Mamoru? He mentioned visiting SciLabs today with his decision on whether to help us or not,” Sherrice asked.

“I sent a message stating we can wait another day, we’re taking a day off to recover,” Iris answered. “Is that all you wanted to know?”

“…yeah. I’ll contact you if I get any information on any of the kidnapped Operators,” Sherrice decided as she exited the lab.

–

Yuriko stared out the window of her room/prison with a forlorn look in her eyes. Even though she could count herself lucky that Regal wasn’t doing anything to her on the level of forcing her to use dark chips to corrupt her Navi…she wanted out of here. She wanted to get out of here and find someone, anyone who was fighting Regal and help them…

“Yuriko?”

Yuriko’s PET was lying on her bed, her Navi sounding worried. She walked towards her bed and picked up her PET.

“Sorry, Needleman. I think I’m starting to feel stir-crazy in here,” she apologized.

“So am I, there’s nothing to jack into in this room! I’ve been offline for days now, I feel like I’m going to get rusty with virus busting!” Needleman complained.

“I know, but what can we do? I don’t want to have a relationship with Regal ever again, I don’t want the reason for me to walk freely being because I gave in and pretended I still have feelings for him…” Yuriko confessed.

“We’ll just have to wait it out, then!” Needleman declared. “He can’t keep us here forever!”

“I think he can. It’s not like he’s given away anything on how his plan is going…whatever it is, anyways,” Yuriko muttered.

She heard the locks on her door open, then watched as the door swung open to reveal Regal, backed by two grunts. Yuriko stiffened, glaring at Regal as she put down her PET.

“You could stand to look a little more cheerful, Yuriko,” Regal commented. “Those two are just to make sure you don’t try to run while the door is open.”

“You didn’t have them the last time you dropped by,” Yuriko noted, looking towards the grunts. “I take it something happened to make you beef up security?”

“That’s none of your concern,” Regal dismissed, taking a step towards her. Yuriko, in turn, took a step back towards the bookcase behind her.

“Regal, if this is about when we were dating when we were…what, high school age? It’s over and done with. I don’t want to have a relationship that was toxic then and will be toxic now,” she argued.

“Toxic? It was just a high school relationship–”

“And that’s all it needs to be. If you didn’t turn out like this, maybe we could have been friends, but look what you’re doing to your brother! Look what you’ve done to yourself!” Yuriko interrupted.

Regal frowned, making an annoyed 'tsk’ sound, continuing to step forward. “Why do you still assume trying to guilt-trip me with Baryl will work? We’re not related by blood, anyways, why should I care about him?”

“He’s still your family!” Yuriko retorted, stepping back towards the bookcase. “Baryl is still your brother! Or have you tried to disown even being related to Wily?”

“He isn’t my father. He sent me off to Nation Z so I could be 'corrected’. He never saw me as a son,” Regal coldly replied. “Why should I see him as my father?”

“He still cares about you! He wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do!” Yuriko pointed out.

“He should have known,” Regal replied. “But enough about him, let’s get back to you…”

“Don’t come near me, Regal. I told you, we’re done! I’m not getting back together with you!” Yuriko warned, pressing her back against the bookcase.

“You don’t have to act like that. If you just considered giving me another chance…” Regal offered, walking closer to Yuriko. Yuriko grabbed a book and tossed it at Regal’s head, the scientist hissing in pain as it collided with him.

“Ow! Son of a…”

Regal glared at Yuriko, one hand holding his head in pain. Yuriko had a feeling she or someone else was about to pay dearly for her action, but Nebula be damned, she had the right to turn him down and defend herself.

“You…You  _little_ …” Regal began, venom lacing his tone. A grunt immediately ran into the room, prompting he and Yuriko to look over towards the intruding peon.

“Sir…huff, huff…XD001 is trying to break free of his restraints again!” the grunt reported, out of breath.

“Again? Give me a moment to grab an ice pack and a few dark chips,” Regal ordered, the anger in his tone turning to irritation.

“Yessir!” the grunt answered, running back out of the room and towards wherever this XD001 was. Regal turned back towards Yuriko, the woman looking slightly confused at the mention of XD001.

“Consider your options carefully. Remember who you’re dealing with, Yuriko,” he warned before leaving the room, door slamming shut. Yuriko stayed where she was for a few moments before slowly sinking to the floor, a drained look in her eyes.

Needleman had listened to the conversation with muted terror, and once Regal had left, quietly asked, “Yuriko…?”

“…I’ll be fine, Needleman. I…I’ll be fine,” Yuriko replied in an almost equally quiet tone.

–

DenTown was glittering brightly in twilight as Teisel and Barrett solemnly walked towards an apartment building. The two had discarded their Nebula uniforms earlier; Barrett had bright, long ginger hair tied back and brown eyes, whereas Teisel’s hair was best described as a white mane and his eyes as red as a cherry. Barrett looked downcast, while Teisel held his head high.

“…Teisel, what’re we going to do? We can’t let Regal’s plan succeed, but…”

“We’ll find a way to stop him,” Teisel replied. “Maybe we can get in contact with SciLabs or something…I need to reassure Tron that I’m doing alright, first.”

A black-haired woman was standing in the doorway of the apartment, talking with a pink-haired teenage girl. The two didn’t notice Teisel and Barrett right away.

“I’m sure Barrett’s okay, he’s with Teisel…” the black-haired woman tried to assure the teenager.

“He hasn’t sent any letters for months, though…are you sure, Tron?” the girl asked.

“I’m su…” Tron began before she noticed the two walking towards her. Her face broke out into a smile, eyes lighting up with glee. The teenager didn’t understand until she turned around, gasping at the sight of Barrett.

“Barrett! Teisel!”

Barrett gave a sheepish smile, while Teisel waved. “Sorry for not speaking to you guys for a while.”

Tron ran up to hug Teisel, replying, “We were worried sick! I thought being the eldest sibling meant you would keep in contact with your younger siblings!”

“I know, I couldn’t send out letters as much as I wanted to, our boss was…well, to be blunt, a hard-ass,” Teisel admitted.

“Barrett, are you okay? Were you two fired…?” the teenage girl asked with worry in her voice.

Barrett nodded, scratching the back of his head. “Basically, yeah. It’s a long story, but we were told to get out and never come back. Aero, I’m so sorry for not talking to you since we left…”

Aero shook her head. “Come on in, the Bright Bats and Bon missed you guys!” she prompted, gesturing to the apartment. The four headed inside the apartment building, door closing shut behind them.

–

“It is 9:45, Iris,” Ballade quietly reminded from their PET. Iris had spent what felt like a full day trying to work with the reclaimed Operators. It felt almost like a waste of a day; Fyrefox refused to say a word, Dingo simply cursed Iris for taking him away from Regal, and Lan’s friends needed to be restrained by Pride and Tesla. On the bright side of things, Charlie and Miyabi showed signs of improvement by way of disgust they had called Regal 'Master’ before, and Pride and Tesla seemed to be rid of any dark chip influence…

“Will Lan be here tomorrow?” Pride had asked.

“He should, provided nothing happens between tonight and tomorrow morning,” Iris confirmed.

“…I need to apologize to him for what I did under the dark chip’s power. I know that it wasn’t entirely my fault, but I feel terrible nonetheless,” Pride admitted.

“Alright, then. Tesla? What about you?” Iris asked.

“…I’d like to say 'thanks’ to him for helping me,” Tesla replied. Her eyes were a little red, but Iris chose not to pry further.

Now, Iris was searching through SciLab’s systems, making sure everything was in place before she went to charge her Copybot.

“Any new messages?” Iris asked Ballade.

“No new messages found,” Ballade reported.

Zero suddenly warped to the monitor behind Iris, two Navis behind him. One was a small, stout blue Navi with a big yellow head, black eyes, and a cheerful grin on its face. The other resembled a purple-haired boy with straight, shoulder-length hair, closed eyes, and white and gray armor covering his body. The smaller Navi’s emblem resembled a skull with round black eyes, while the taller Navi’s emblem was simply a red circle with a big red dot in the middle.

“Forgive me, Iris, but these two Navis said they wished to speak with you,” Zero explained.

“Oh? Who are these two?” Iris asked, looking at the Navis.

“I’m Servbot #18! I’m a personalized Navi!” the short robot responded in a bright tone.

“I am Juno.EXE. You are Iris, correct?” the purple-haired Navi questioned.

“Yes. May I ask who your Operators are? Or are you Solo NetNavis?” Iris wondered.

“I’m afraid we cannot give out that information at this time,” Juno responded. “We do, however, have information on the organization known as Nebula, if you wish to hear about it.”

Iris glanced at the Navis skeptically. “How do I know this information is trustworthy? For all I know, you two could be from Nebula and are prepared to attack Zero and Ballade.”

“They had no weapons on them,” Zero reported.

“Yeah, no weapons!” Servbot #18 parroted.

Iris thought over her choices, then asked, “Will it be alright for you two to stay overnight on this network? I was about to log off for the night.”

“It should be no problem for us to stay overnight,” Juno responded with a nod.

“No problem at all!” Servbot #18 agreed.

“Alright. I’ll see you both in the morning,” Iris decided before shutting off the monitor. She stood up from her desk, only to pause when she saw someone in the doorway. It was a woman with short brown hair, a purple shirt with a white stripe across it, and a long green skirt.

“…may I help you, ma'am?” Iris asked, curiously.

“…I was visiting my husband’s office when I heard someone talking, and…I’m sorry, who are you?” the woman asked, sounding equally as curious as Iris.

“I’m Iris, I work here as an assistant of sorts,” Iris responded. “Who are you?”

“Haruka Hikari,” the woman replied. Iris inwardly winced; she was Lan’s mother, wasn’t she? So she was visiting Yuichiro’s office…

“I see. It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Hikari. I apologize for scaring you, I was just wrapping things up for the night,” she apologized.

“It’s alright,” Haruka responded. “But…who were you talking with, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Zero.EXE, and two other Navis. I…assume you heard the bit about Nebula,” Iris guessed.

Haruka nodded. “I thought Nebula was gone after all those tournaments…I heard my son Lan saying he was sure they broke up.”

“…I’m afraid not. Mrs. Hikari, if you’ll take a seat, I’ll explain as much as I can about Nebula,” Iris promised.


	16. Chapter 16

“Now, I would like to preface this with that this is all we know on Nebula, and some of what I’m going to say is…slight speculation,” Iris began, grabbing a chair for Haruka. “I apologize in advance…”

“No, no, it’s quite alright,” Haruka assured, sitting down in the chair. “I want to ask, though, why just tell me about Nebula?”

“You’re Yuichiro Hikari’s wife, aren’t you? I believe you deserve to know a little about the threat Nebula poses,” Iris replied. “Have any officials from SciLabs told you anything about Mr. Hikari being kidnapped?”

“I’m afraid not. They only said he had been taken away,” Haruka admitted.

Iris grimaced. “I see…allow me to try to explain, then. Nebula, as we know, kidnapped 17 people within the span of a week or two. Doctor Regal, thought to be presumed dead after the incident with the asteroid, has turned out to have survived. Several days ago…on Oran Island, I discovered two of the kidnapped Operators; Princess Pride of Creamland and Tesla Magnus.”

There was a hint of surprise in Haruka’s eyes, though Iris chose to ignore it for now. “They were under the influence of dark chips. I presume you know about them?”

“Y…Yes, I do. Yuichiro told me about them after the asteroid incident…” Haruka confirmed, starting to sound worried.

“I see. I was able to subdue the two and bring them back here, along with a few others kidnapped, but those who have recovered from the dark chip’s power don’t recall where Nebula’s base is. Given none of them recall where Yuichiro Hikari is…the most I know is he’s likely safe, he doesn’t have a Navi, but he might know something Regal wants to know as well,” Iris explained.

“…do you know what he might want?” Haruka quietly asked.

“I have a partial idea at what Regal wants. There was once a project called the SoulNet, which was capable of linking souls, but it was abandoned a long time ago, mostly because its creators feared it could be abused. Given the dark chips and that Yuichiro might know how to activate the SoulNet…Regal might be aiming to take over the world by using Dark Chips on the SoulNet and corrupting everyone’s souls.”

Iris paused, then sheepishly admitted, “It sounds like a plot straight out a video game, but it’s the best I’ve got. My grandfather was involved with the project, and trusted me with a few bits and pieces about it.”

“So that might be why? But you said you’ve found some of the people who were kidnapped. In fact, why would Regal take away people in the first place? It couldn’t be just to test dark chips…” Haruka wondered.

Iris immediately felt uncomfortable leaving out the matter of Synchro Chips. That would likely make Haruka suspicious of how Iris would be able to subdue those Nebula had kidnapped, unless she lied and said she crossfused with Ballade…but would it be better if she didn’t know?

“I wish I knew,” Iris mumbled, feeling guilt wash over her. “If Regal is planning something else, then we have a problem. All I can do is hope I’m not doing something wrong here.”

“I guess so. Have you been working alone, Iris?” Haruka asked, causing Iris to hesitate.

“…well, I’ve been working with my Navi and the guard Navi SciLabs has here. Otherwise, I’ve been by myself. It’s not too bad, to be honest,” Iris replied.

At that moment, her PET took the moment to start ringing. “Email, Iris,” Ballade reported.

Iris picked up her PET and read over the message. “…ah. Mrs. Hikari, you won’t mind if said guard Navi joins in our conversation, will you?”

“No, I don’t mind at all!” Haruka assured. Iris turned on the monitor, revealing Zero.EXE standing at attention. Servbot #18 and Juno.EXE were off in a corner, waiting for Iris to allow them to talk with her.

“Good evening, Miss Iris. I’m sorry, I wanted to see who you were talking to after Ballade said you were in a conversation with someone,” Zero apologized.

Iris cast an annoyed glance down at Ballade, the blue Navi simply replying, “It would be rude to leave him out of it.”

“So you’re the guard Navi?” Haruka asked Zero. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Haruka Hikari, Yuichiro’s wife.”

“So you’re Mrs. Hikari? Yuichiro spoke quite fondly of you and your son when I talked with him. I am Zero.EXE,” Zero responded, giving a short bow.

“He did? Goodness, I had no idea…” Haruka noted.

“Indeed. It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person. I had hoped to meet you after meeting the rest of your family, to be honest. I can say with pride that I’m lucky to know such a wonderful family,” Zero admitted.

“It’s great to meet you too, Zero! I wish I could stay and talk, but I really should be heading back. I left the house while Lan was asleep to visit the lab for a short while, I didn’t expect to stay out this long,” Haruka confessed.

“Alright. Have a good night, Mrs. Hikari,” Iris replied, watching Haruka leave. She paused for a moment, then looked back towards Iris.

“Oh, and Iris, if you need any help, feel free to call me at any time. You don’t have to do everything by yourself, you know,” Haruka reminded.

“…I will,” Iris responded, slightly surprised at her offer. With that, Haruka left the lab, leaving Iris to lean back in her chair, running her hands down her face.

“…I presume we’re going to tell Lan his mom dropped by?” Ballade guessed.

“Yes, he has to know that. I feel terrible about lying to her like that, but…”

Iris shook her head. “I wonder how many secrets will I have to keep before this is all over. It’s bad enough I feel like I’m only using Lan to get Colonel and Baryl back, but…”

She turned back towards the monitor. “You know what? While I have the time…Servbot #18, Juno, would you mind telling me what you two had to say?”

–

The following morning, Lan groggily woke up to Megaman saying, “Email, Lan! Iris sounds really worried…”

“Read it aloud, I just woke up…” Lan complained, trying to sit up as he rubbed his eyes.

“ ‘Lan, we had visitors last night. They had some info on what Regal might be planning…and where they might strike next. Please, get over to SciLabs ASAP.’ We should get going!” Megaman prompted.

“Gimme a moment to dress and eat breakfast…” Lan protested, climbing out of bed.

–

Lan trudged into SciLabs later that morning, Sherrice, Kai, Mamoru, and Shun already there. Sherrice and Iris were the only ones who actually looked awake, though Shun was trying to pretend he hadn’t just woke up like Lan did.

“Morning, guys. Did Iris already say what was going on?” Lan asked.

“She hasn’t,” Sherrice responded. “We were all waiting for you.”

“Now that we’re all here…two Navis came in last night with information on where we might be able to find at least one of the kidnapped people, and we have a hint on Regal’s plans. I thought he would be using something called the SoulNet, but…the Navis said he never mentioned anything about it when they were around him,” Iris explained.

“SoulNet?” the group of NetOps chorused.

“It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later when I have the time. The Navis did mention that Regal was planning on visiting every major country in the world, and he said something about XD001…” Iris explained.

“XD001…what could that be?” Lan wondered.

“I don’t know,” Iris responded, weakly shrugging. “I just know it’s either related to one of the people he kidnapped or something else entirely.”

“What about where we might find someone who was kidnapped?” Shun asked.

“Right, that…the Navis said there was something planned for End City, but that’s the only location they could get before they said they were banned from Nebula’s servers,” Iris replied.

“Are these Navis trustworthy? You said they appeared last night…” Mamoru pointed out.

“For now, we’re assuming they are. They came onto the network last night and asked Zero to take them to me. Zero confirmed they had no weapons on them, and they’ve had opportunities to attack him by now, so…I think we can trust this information for the time being,” Iris explained.

“What about your parents?” Shun asked. “Are we just not going to tell them anything…?”

Lan coughed nervously, while Sherrice and Kai simultaneously shook their heads. “…yeah, uh…”

“…I think the only parent figure we’re really letting in on the secret is Aunt Tamako,” Mamoru guessed at the others’ reactions.

“…actually…” Iris began, clasping her hands together and glancing off to the side, grimacing.

“Did something else happen last night? Is it about your dad?” Lan asked.

“…your mom visited last night, Lan. Well, she was visiting your dad’s office, but she heard me talking with Ballade and Zero, and…I didn’t tell her about the whole bit with crossfusion and that I’m working with you guys, I  _swear_ ,” Iris quickly clarified upon seeing everyone’s horrified looks.

“So then she knows about Nebula and everything else? Why would you tell her that? I don’t want her getting worried about me if she found out…!” Lan protested.

“In my defense, it’s not like I could have just lied to her, she was standing in the entryway when I was talking with the Navis. I didn’t intend for it to happen…” Iris responded.

“But you could have refused to tell her! She might start piecing together all the stuff that’s been happening…”

“Lan, with all due respect, I think the Oran Island adventure would have been enough to tip her off,” Pride’s voice pointed out as the princess entered the room, Tesla following behind. The two ladies, though a little weary, looked well with their eye color back to normal. Pride had a small smile on her face, with Tesla’s face remaining neutral.

“Pride! Tesla! Er…you have a point,” Lan mumbled.

“How are the others?” Iris asked, a slightly hopeful tone in her voice.

“Charlie and Miyabi seem to be doing well, they might be completely okay. Dingo and Fyrefox are trying to fight their way out of whatever Regal did to them, but they might need some one-on-one time,” Pride explained.

“The kids you rescued the other day, though…they’ve been demanding to see Lan. I don’t think it’s quite safe to put him around them yet,” Tesla admitted.

Lan’s shoulders drooped at that remark, looking at Tesla with puppy dog eyes. “But they’re my friends! I want to see them…”

“Lan, I think whatever Regal did to them was worse than what he did to us,” Pride explained, wincing at the look on the NetOp’s face. “They haven’t shown signs of improvement, but we can’t give up hope yet. It might just take a little more time for them to start snapping out of it.”

“But…” Lan began, voice slightly shaking.

“I know it’s hard, but I’m sure they’ll be okay,” Pride reassured, ruffling Lan’s hair gently. Lan could only nod, not looking at Pride.

“So what should we do regarding End City?” Sherrice asked Iris, hoping to move the conversation to something more pleasant.

“Do any of us have any contacts in End City? We could ask them to see if anything unusual has been happening lately,” Iris questioned the group.

“I’ll check the net there and see if anything turns up,” Mamoru replied.

“I’ll look to see who might be in End City, I think one of my friends might be hanging around that town,” Lan answered, taking out his PET.

“None of us should go near End City unless we have our Synchro Chips and we’re with someone, as a precaution. I don’t want any of us getting caught alone and unable to fight,” Iris reminded.

“Lan, do you mind if I go with you to End City, then, if you plan on heading over there?” Shun offered.

“I don’t mind! Anyone else want to come with?” Lan asked. When everyone else shook their heads, he and Shun chose to take their leave.

“Wait, Lan!” Pride called, hurrying over to the two. “I almost forgot, Tesla and I wanted to thank you for helping us. We owe you and Iris.”

“You’re welcome! I’m just glad to see you two are looking better!” Lan responded with a bright smile. With that, he and Shun left SciLabs.

–

“There’s a rather oppressive air here…”

Miyu was wandering about End City, PET in hand. She frowned as she looked around, noticing people clustered together as though any of them could be taken away at a moment’s notice.

“Maybe it’s because of us!” Skullman interjected, grinning like a devil.

“No…it’s been like this for a while, I think. Ever since Princess Pride was kidnapped,” Miyu responded, quietly.

“Can’t blame 'em, I’d be scared and worried too in their shoes. It’s not like we’re at any risk though, right?” Skullman asked.

Miyu pursed her lips for a moment. “…I don’t know. It’s odd, some of the people kidnapped were very high profile, or had ties to rather infamous people, and yet…why didn’t they take Lan Hikari?”

“Eh?”

“Lan is responsible for why the Net still exists today. He and his Navi are extraordinary…why go after Eugene Chaud but not Lan Hikari? It’s an odd and rather fascinating question…” Miyu wondered.

“Maybe they didn’t have the time to kidnap him! Or they were beat in a Netbattle with him!” Skullman suggested.

“Mm, perhaps…but wouldn’t it have made news if he had met the person behind these disappearances? I wonder…”

Miyu gave a quiet sigh. “We should contact him and make sure all is well.”

“Alright! What do you want me to write?” Skullman asked.

–

Mamoru and Iris chose to contact Tamako via videophone after Lan and Shun left for End City, the NetOp peppering Iris with questions about Crossfusion and if Metalman was compatible with her.

“I believe it’s likely if you have a strong bond with him. So far, it seems to have been the case with everyone else on the team, though we haven’t gotten the chance to test with Shun yet,” Iris explained.

“Do you mind if I visit SciLabs and see if I can crossfuse with Metalman? I want to help all of you anyway I can, and crossfusion looks like a good place to start!” Tamako asked.

“Aunt Tamako, you don’t have to help us…” Mamoru began.

“But I can, and I’m going to! Sit tight, I’ll be over there in a flash!” Tamako interrupted before hanging up.

“…well, she has a very strong drive to help us,” Ballade noted.

“At least if all goes well, Tamako will be a great asset, and a bit of a middle finger to Regal’s plans,” Iris tried to encourage Mamoru. Mamoru just nodded.

Soon after the call, Tamako showed up at SciLab’s office, orange and blue PET in hand. “Ready to start when you are, Iris!”


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, after some more scouring the Megaman Wiki, I've discovered that the game Sherrice appears in...happens between 5 and 6. I might have to one day go back and re-edit this entire fic so it's more in-line with Battle Network canon (the whole Atlampia bit, Nobody, Sherrice's family), but for now, let's just assume the whole Trojan Horse incident was basically around 3 or 4, along with the aforementioned retcons. I am so sorry to people who are noticing this and are thinking "Wait, wasn't Sherrice from Atlampia? Why does she actually have parents? What's going on?" It's no fault on your part, it's mine :'D
> 
> Second, the designs for Tamako and Higsby's crossfusion in this chapter come from saber-chan on Tumblr, with /post/63857880185 being her Higsby design and /post/76156525363 being her Tamako design. Credit to her for her work, and I highly recommend following her on Tumblr if you have one.

A Dimensional Field had been set up in a testing area in the building, Tamako standing inside it with a Synchro Chip and her PET while Iris, Mamoru, Sherrice and Kai were standing outside of it, close to some computer console.

“Alright, everything is ready to go. Tamako, it isn’t the end of the world if you can’t crossfuse, I’d like to remind you. If you want to help us, we’ll find other ways,” Iris promised.

Tamako nodded. “So I just slot in the chip?” she asked, looking over the chip in her hand.

“Yes, you just slot in the chip. If all goes well, you’ll merge with Metalman,” Iris replied.

“Alright…Synchro Chip, slot in!” Tamako declared, placing the chip inside the PET. A burst of light surrounded her, shielding her from view as she transformed. Orange, blue and tan armor covered her upper body and feet on top of a black body suit, metal pieces that resembled gears forming around her wrists and ankles. Two circular, jagged blades formed on top of her shoulder and curved around to under her shoulders. Metalman’s Navi emblem appeared front and center on her chest and her hairpin disappeared, replaced by an orange helmet with a circular saw-blade around it allowing her hair to flow from behind, completing the crossfusion.

“…whoa…oh my  _god_  is this cool!” Tamako gasped, looking over herself in glee.

“How do you feel?” Iris asked, eyebrows raised.

“Really strong! Like if I encountered Regal right now, I’d punch him into next week! Is this what you guys feel like when you crossfuse?” Tamako responded.

“More or less!” Kai responded. “You look really cool, Tamako!”

“Remember that if anything damages the Navi emblem, the fusion will be undone,” Iris warned. “Same goes for if you take too much damage or if you and Metalman can’t cooperate.”

“Sounds easy enough to avoid! I won’t let them get the chance to hit me!” Tamako responded with a nod.

“With that settled, I want to start testing to see how well you can use battle chips crossfused, if it’s alright?” Iris asked.

“Of course! Let’s get started!”

–

Shun and Lan arrived in End City, the two looking around as they exited the subway. A giant, ancient castle stretched to the sky, partially surrounded by houses here and there.

“…people seem really quiet and nervous around here,” Lan noted, looking at groups of people tightly clustered together.

“Wasn’t Miyabi kidnapped here? I wouldn’t want to be by myself in the place he had been kidnapped, either,” Shun responded with a shrug. “Look at us, Iris told us not to go alone, and here we are walking together in End City.”

“Yeah, good point. On the plus side, at least this means we can spend some time together, right?” Lan asked.

Shun just grunted in response as the two began to walk around, keeping an eye out for any of Lan’s friends. There was no sign of anyone either of them recognized outside or on the first floor of the castle.

“…so…I wonder what Wily thinks about all this,” Lan prompted after an uncomfortable silence.

“Probably doesn’t care. He hasn’t said a peep since the whole business with the asteroid, hasn’t he?” Shun asked.

“Eh, no, he hasn’t…” Lan agreed, shaking his head.

“I think the only way he’ll care is if someone close to him is affected, and even then I bet that wouldn’t be enough for him. Look at how he left me to die when I was…well, with Gospel,” Shun mumbled the last part in the event someone was eavesdropping on them.

Lan shuddered, recalling the giant wolf made of bugs and the organization that created it. “…I almost forgot about that,” he admitted.

“…I wish that I knew better back then, to be honest. I almost killed people…” Shun admitted.

“I can’t blame you for what you did. You said you’ve have a rough life, and you grabbed onto an offer you thought would help you. In the right circumstances, who knows, I could have been the one working with Wily while you stop me,” Lan suggested, shrugging.

“You think so? You don’t strike me as the type to willingly go along with someone like Wily or Regal,” Shun commented.

Lan nodded. “Shun, don’t worry about what you’ve done, okay? Stuff happens. You’re still my friend, alright?”

Shun reluctantly replied, “Alright. I’ll try not to worry.”

“Lan? Is that you?” a familiar voice asked, and Lan and Shun looked up from their conversation to see Miyu approach them, holding her PET in her hands. “I was just about to send you a message, too…”

“Miyu! I didn’t realize you were here! It’s great to see you again!” Lan greeted, cheerfully.

“It’s a pleasure to see you as well, Lan. May I ask why you and your friend are here?” Miyu asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Well, it’s…a little hard to explain,” Shun admitted. “Has anything weird happened around here since Dark Miyabi was kidnapped?”

“You mean aside from the fact people are clustered together as though they might be taken away if they didn’t stick with one another? And how unbearable the air feels? No, not at all,” Miyu replied.

“Have you seen anyone with red eyes? Or kind of pale skin?” Lan asked.

Miyu paused, then looked towards Shun. “…would he count?”

“…no, I don’t,” Shun responded, exasperated.

“Then I haven’t seen anyone else matching that description. Is there a reason for you looking for someone like that?” Miyu asked.

“We need to get a hold of them. ASAP. They might be in danger,” Lan explained.

“Do you believe they have been kidnapped? Because you might be too late…” Miyu pointed out.

“Well, it’s…it’s complicated,” Shun admitted, looking around. Was it just him, or were people starting to thin out a little?

“…something seems to be happening,” Miyu murmured, noticing Shun glancing around.

“I think the people we’re looking for are about to make an appearance,” Lan noted, frowning and reaching for his PET.

“Why are they leaving, though?” Shun wondered. “Are they being threatened…?”

The doors suddenly shut, and Lan gulped when he realized there were only two other people left in the room, ones he knew very well; Laika and Higsby, both with surprisingly pale skin and red eyes.

“Laika, Higsby…not you two…”

“Nice to see you again, Hikari,” Laika coldly greeted. “I’d like to simply get to the point and demand you three come with us immediately. Master Regal is expecting you.”

“I’m not going with you two!” Lan refused, scowling. “I know this isn’t like either of you! Higsby, come on, you swore off evil…”

“Old habits die hard, huh!” Higsby answered, keeping an eye on Lan.

“Lan, keep them talking, I need to contact Iris,” Shun whispered, beginning to type out a message for Iris. Lan gave a barely noticeable nod.

“Laika, I know we’ve had a rough time together, and I know you’re probably angry at me for beating you…”

Laika snorted. “I was supposed to show Sharo’s strength, that I could fight as well as any foreign Operator and Navi. Instead, I lost to a child! An Electopian child who only got lucky!”

Lan shivered as Laika glared at him, the soldier’s red eyes alight with hatred as he took a step towards the three NetOps. “I was lucky Sharo didn’t disown me when I returned home! I was lucky they didn’t kick me out of the country and leave me for dead! Instead, I’m now considered one of their worst assets, and it’s all thanks to you, Hikari!”

“I…I’m sorry!” Lan apologized, voice squeaking. “I had no idea! Laika, I didn’t want you to be treated poorly by your home country!”

“Too little, too late! You think your apologies will make up for every harsh word slung at me when I returned home? When I tried to explain your Navi was far more powerful than anything Sharo had ever seen before? They laughed at me and claimed I was making it all up to cover how poorly I fared!” Laika snapped, narrowing his eyes and gritting his teeth.

“Sent!” Shun hissed, grabbing a Synchro Chip. Lan gulped nervously. This was about to turn into a fight…

Miyu was surprisingly calm, looking up at Laika in pure curiosity. How she was staying so calm with a soldier on the verge of threatening Lan and possibly his friends was likely to be a mystery for the ages.

“…wouldn’t it reflect poorly back on Sharo for a soldier to threaten foreign citizens in times of peace? Tell me, we haven’t done anything wrong, have we? Lan defeated you in a fair Netbattle, and it was your country’s choice to react the way it did,” Miyu commented.

“Lan is still to blame!” Laika argued. “If it wasn’t for him, I would still be respected in Sharo! He has to pay!”

“Miyu, you might want to get behind us. Right now,” Lan advised. “We really didn’t want to have to do this, but…”

Miyu simply nodded, retreating to a spot behind the two boys as Higsby slotted in a Dimensional Area chip. The entire floor was covered in the Dimensional Area, and Lan could only hope there was enough space outside for the crossfusion group to be able to break through the sealed doors.

“Higsby, please…listen to me, you shouldn’t do this!” Lan pleaded.

“Why shouldn’t I, huh? Master Regal promised me that if I brought him to you, he’d give me the most powerful and rarest chips money could buy, huh!” Higsby retorted as he and Laika took out their PETs. Numberman’s color scheme had swapped from green, dark blue and tan to purple, orange and gray, whereas Searchman’s coloring was now orange and purple.

“He can’t give you that, Higsby! He’s lying!” Lan protested.

“No he isn’t, huh! Maybe I better shut you up quick, huh!” Higsby decided as the two took out Dark Synchro Chips. Lan sighed in defeat and took out his own Synchro Chip.

“I’m sorry…!”

“Synchro Chip, slot in!”

–

Iris and the rest of the group arrived at End City, freezing at the sight of the crowd gathered around the castle. A Dimensional Area had surrounded the ground floor, people nervously chattering about it.

“Ohh, great,” Tamako muttered, gaze darting around the area to find another way in.

“The doors are shut, but the windows aren’t. If there’s a window we can climb in from behind…” Sherrice pointed out, keeping her voice low.

“There’s one other issue we have with helping Lan. Dimensional Areas weren’t designed for easy entry or exit; they have layers of electronic shields, it won’t be easy to get into that Dimensional Area,” Iris explained.

“Not easy, but it’s possible, right? What do we have to do?” Tamako asked.

“You’d have to basically run straight at the barrier and crossfuse upon entry. If it works, then we’ll be able to restrain Higsby and Laika once we reach them. If it doesn’t…” Iris explained, trailing off.

“We’ll just have to keep doing it until we get it right!” Tamako declared, quietly, as the group proceeded to tiptoe around the crowd and to the back of the castle. There were a few windows they could break in through…

“Isn’t it going to be dangerous crashing through a window?” Kai asked, looking at Iris.

“Well, yes, but we don’t have much time! Get through the barrier, get Higsby and Laika, and get out before the police show up!” Iris ordered. Sherrice, Kai, and Tamako took out their PETs and Synchro Chips, taking a few steps back from the barrier. They ran straight at the barrier, determined looks on their faces.

“Synchro Chip, slot in!”

–

Lan and Shun were having problems dealing with Higsby and Laika. It turned out the two were a more formidable pair than either of them had expected, trying to corner Lan and Shun so Laika could get a good chance to snipe their Navi emblems.

Shun had pale blue armor that looked almost like ice, and on top of that was dark blue armor with green accents, ice-like spikes jutting out of his arms and legs. A dark blue piece of armor covered his mouth, and his Navi emblem rested on his chest. Laika was covered in orange and purple armor, along a helmet protecting his head and providing a visor of some sort, a giant gun Lan did not have a name for, and his Navi emblem resting on the side of his head.

Higsby looked almost identical to Numberman, helmet, coloring and all. And he was as adept at tossing exploding dies as Lan was at Netbattling; which is to say he was extremely good at it.

Shun put up an ice shield in an attempt to protect him, Miyu, and Lan, wincing when the shield cracked after the latest explosion. Miyu was still staying calm, which was both a worry and a relief for Lan.

“We can’t hold out like this forever…where are Iris and the others?” Shun wondered.

The sound of shattering glass and three people grunting in pain answered his question. Lan and Shun peeked out from behind the shield to see Tamako, Kai, and Sherrice all crossfused, the windows behind them broken. A few pieces of glass were stuck on their armor.

“Lan! Shun! You two okay?” Tamako asked, getting up and brushing herself off.

“We need help! We have someone with us!” Lan responded. Miyu poked her head out from the shield at the mention of her, giving a small wave.

“We’ll have to make this quick, then!” Sherrice decided. Laika hissed in anger, having to turn his gun away from Lan and Shun to start firing at the intruding fighters. Higsby continued to fire exploding dice at Lan and Shun, the shield finally crumbling.

“Guess that shield’s not all it’s cracked up to be, huh?!” Higsby shouted, tossing another exploding die.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Tamako shouted, firing a metal blade at the die. Naturally, it blew up in mid-air, allowing Lan and Shun to start charging at Higsby. The former W3 operator yelped as he was tackled to the ground, struggling to push the kids off of him.

“You’ll thank us later, Higsby!” Shun shouted before firing his buster at Higsby’s Navi crest. Higsby cried out in pain as the crossfusion was undone, his PET lying beside him.

“Y…You’ll pay for this…” Higsby muttered before losing consciousness.

Meanwhile, Sherrice, Kai, and Tamako were trying to fight Laika, evading his gun.

“This feels impossible, he’s not giving us a chance to fight back!” Kai complained.

“There has to be a way to stop him…!” Tamako muttered. Without warning, Lan and Shun attempted to tackle Laika as well, prompting Sherrice and Kai to charge at the soldier. Laika grunted as he fell, fighting to get the kids off of him.

“Enough, enough!” Laika shouted, just before Lan shot his Navi crest. He froze up, eyes wide and breathing quick as the crossfusion ended.

“I’m sorry, Laika. I hope you and Higsby will understand when you snap out of this,” Lan quietly apologized as Laika passed out. The Dimensional Area fell apart, the Operators holding their PETs in hand as they split from their Navis. Iris cautiously peeked in through a window.

“…you guys might want to hurry. Police are coming in to break the doors down.”

–

At Nebula HQ, Regal held a pitch-black chip in his hands, a small red orb in the center. Three grunts stood behind him, one clutching their hands nervously.

“…so, this is the dark chip that you three came up with? The one that’s supposed to make sure he doesn’t ever recover from using?” Regal asked.

“Yes sir. You said that you needed a dark chip to have enough output that one use would corrupt its user for good. However…” one of the grunts hesitated.

“However?” Regal asked, glaring at the peon.

“We tested on several NormalNavis we found lying around the Net, and…to spare you the details, we discovered there is a 1% chance that they can recover. We’ve done our best to whittle it down, but it’s stayed at 1%. Will this be a bother, sir?” another grunt asked.

Regal grunted in annoyance, grimacing. “1%? The best you could do is 1%?”

“W-We’re sorry, sir!” the third grunt apologized. “We’ve done our best!”

Regal looked back at the chip. “…you know what? It will do.”

The three workers gave a sigh of relief. “Thank you, sir!”

“Now, were Laika and Higsby sent out?” Regal questioned, setting the chip down on his desk.

“Yes, sir. They should have arrived at End City a while ago,” the first grunt responded.

“Good. You three can return to your posts,” Regal dismissed. The three grunts scurried out of the room, leaving Regal by himself.

“…I wonder, was there ever a time or place I could have chosen to turn back? Perhaps during the incident with the comet…” he mused before looking down at the dark chip. A grin slowly spread across his face.

“…of course not. Like I would ever reconsider becoming like Hikari…I would sooner die than change my ways!”


	18. Chapter 18

Lan’s group returned to SciLabs, Iris and Tamako dragging Higsby and Laika over to the other recovered Operators. Miyu had followed Lan on the way back to SciLabs, curious about the whole crossfusion bit. Mamoru had stayed behind, sadly of little use out in the field.

“Welcome back!” he greeted.

“I didn’t expect us to be attacked like that…” Shun commented as they waited for Iris and Tamako to return.

“We really need to be careful in the future, then. We only have four people left to rescue, and we don’t know what might happen from here on,” Sherrice suggested.

“What are we gonna do once we rescue everyone? Do we just take the fight to Regal?” Kai asked.

“We’d need to ask Iris about that. Personally, I wouldn’t mind fighting Regal, but we don’t know what he’s got…” Lan admitted.

Iris and Tamako returned to the main meeting room, Iris looking nervous. The NetOps looked over at her in concern.

“Are you alright, Iris?” Mamoru asked, tilting his head.

“…I’m fine, just starting to get worried. We have four Operators left to save, and we don’t really have a plan of attack once we rescue them…” Iris admitted.

“We can figure that out easily though! It’s not something to worry about too much…” Lan pointed out.

“The remaining Operators are Chaud, Ribitta, and two other people. Iris, are you worried about them?” Sherrice asked.

“…one of them is a Netopian commander. His name is Baryl, and…he’s someone important to me,” Iris admitted.

“…do you mind telling us a little about him?” Lan asked, gently.

“He’s…sort of like a brother to me. He and his Navi. I’ll be honest, a good part of why I began this campaign against Regal is because of Regal kidnapping them,” Iris admitted. “I hoped we’d get him back sooner, and it’s obvious the longer the Operators stay with Regal, the worse they get. If Baryl isn’t the next opponent we face…”

Iris hesitated. “…there’s a lot to discuss, but…I think it’s best if you guys returned to your homes until tomorrow. We’ll start trying to work with everyone we’ve recovered so far tomorrow.”

The crossfusion group left the building, leaving Iris to sink to the ground, shaking.

“Iris?” Ballade asked, worry in their voice.

“…Baryl…he and Colonel are in danger. If the pattern continues like this…what are the odds they might recover once we rescue them?” Iris questioned, voice shaking.

“Iris, they have to be okay, you know that…” Ballade tried to comfort.

“Regal has a plan that I’m not liking the looks of, Ballade. If it involves him…”

Iris fell silent, grabbing her PET and hugging it close to her. “…oh, Baryl, I’m so sorry…”

“Iris…” Ballade murmured.

–

Lan found himself standing at a large computer console, a screen in the center of it. His PET was lying beside the screen, apparently jacked in. The room he was in was dark, light purple lines pulsing all about the area.

“W…Where am I?” he wondered, looking around. He didn’t know what Megaman was plugged into…Lan tried to unplug his PET, but failed. The plug refused to budge…

“LAN!”

Lan froze, then looked up to see Iris with his friends, everyone wide-eyed.

“You don’t have to do this, Lan, this isn’t like you!” Iris begged, on the verge of tears.

“Guys…?” Lan asked before his arm suddenly shone for a moment before Megaman’s buster appeared on it and aimed itself at his friends.

“Lan, no!” Iris shouted just before Lan woke up in a cold sweat, the poor kid shaking. It was the middle of the night, that much he could tell…

“Lan…?” Megaman cautiously asked from Lan’s desk. Lan carefully got up and grabbed the PET, desperate for comfort.

“…M…Megaman…I had a weird dream…I’m worried something bad will happen to us…” Lan mumbled.

“Lan…Iris wouldn’t let us get hurt, you know that!” Megaman pointed out.

“I know, but…Hub…”

Lan hugged his PET. “…I had dreams before we fought Alpha. They…They were of you scarificing yourself…Hub, if this is anything like back then…”

“You did? Lan, why didn’t you tell me? I was wondering why sometimes you looked so scared when you woke up back then…” Megaman asked.

“I didn’t know how to tell you,” Lan confessed, sitting back on his bed. “I was worried you’d find it weird I had a dream about you sacrificing yourself…”

“Lan…you can talk to me about anything, you know that. The PET charge is high enough you can keep me beside you while you sleep,” Megaman suggested.

“…I think I need that tonight,” Lan decided, snuggling back into bed.

“Good night, Lan,” Megaman murmured.

“Good night, Hub,” Lan responded before returning to sleep.

–

“Lord Wily? You wanted to talk?”

Wily had set up a video conference with Joe, the W3 leader looking drained. Joe looked concerned about Wily’s appearance, but chose not to say anything.

“Have you heard from Baryl at all?” Wily quietly asked.

“I haven’t. No word from Colonel either…I’m getting worried. There’s been reports about Higsby popping up in End City…” Joe mumbled.

“Higsby? I almost forgot he was taken away…”

Wily fell silent for a moment, hanging his head. Joe and Blastman looked at each other, frowning.

“Lord Wily, we’re looking, we swear. We have to prepare for next school year, we’ve been combing the Undernet for any news about them, but we’re just an Operator and his Navi. We just…can’t find anything,” Joe explained.

“What about the W3 recruits you’ve been gathering before all that meteor nonsense?” Blastman asked. “What were their names? Ito Satoru and Vic…something-or-other? Why not ask them for help?”

“I’ve been tempted, but Vic sounded unimpressed when I explained Baryl might be his commander. Ito said he was still working on scouting any other potential members while working as a prosecutor. I trust you more than those two at the moment,” Wily responded.

“I appreciate being trusted and all, but again, it’s not like I’m going to just find any info on my own. If only it was that easy, huh?” Joe wondered.

“If only. What is Regal doing to them? Does he think by hurting them, he’ll hurt me?” Wily wondered in turn.

“…it seems to be working, then. Wily, I mean no disrespect,” Joe clarified as Wily glared at him. “With Baryl gone, however, you’re nothing like your usual self. You just look tired all the time, you haven’t spoken of a plan to rule or destroy the Net since Baryl vanished, you’re just…not acting like the Wily that’s almost wiped out the Net at least three times now. Regal must be doing this to hurt the people that care about Baryl…and probably Yuriko, too.”

Wily visibly deflated, sighing heavily. “…you have a point.”

“…Lord Wily, I think you need to get some rest. It’s late, stressing out isn’t doing us a lot of favors…” Joe suggested, quietly.

“I know. I think I need to resend my offer of help to SciLabs again, I didn’t get any response…” Wily muttered.

“Still? Maybe it would be better to just walk in and ask them for help at this point, they don’t know I’m affiliated with you…”

Wily shook his head. “If the next message doesn’t trigger any response, we’ll go to SciLabs. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

With that, Wily ended the call.

–

The next day, Lan was on his way to SciLabs, PET in his pocket. He couldn’t help but yawn as he headed towards the building, rubbing his eyes.

“I think I should’ve slept in,” he mumbled.

“We need to help the Operators we’ve recovered, Lan,” Megaman gently reminded.

Lan just nodded before Megaman suddenly declared, “Email, Lan!”

“Eh? Is it from Iris?” Lan wondered, opening up the message. To his surprise, the message was from Mary.

To: Lan Hikari  
From: Mary Towa

Hi! You’re one of Yai’s friends, right?? Sorry for contacting you out of the blue and all, but I moved into Den Town and I haven’t heard from Yai for a while now. Is she okay??

Lan winced, glancing at Megaman as he typed his response.

To: Mary Towa  
From: Lan Hikari

Yep I’m one of Yai’s friends! Actually uh…it’s a long story. Can we talk in a little bit? I promise I’ll explain everything.

“Are we going to let her in on the whole dark chip thing?” Megaman asked.

“Why not? Mary and Yai are friends, she deserves to know. It doesn’t seem right to leave her out of the loop, anyways,” Lan replied as he entered the building.

“Eh, good point, but still…” Megaman mumbled. Lan soon arrived at Iris’s office, stopping when he realized she was nowhere to be found.

“…Iris?” Lan hesitantly called, looking around carefully.

“Do you think that maybe…” Megaman began, a small tremor in his voice.

A door off to the side suddenly opened, and Iris stumbled out of what looked like a supply closet, hair disheveled.

“I-Iris? What were you doing in there?” Lan asked, eyes wide.

“…well, I was looking for a charging cord for my PET. I…must have fallen asleep,” Iris admitted, dragging out a long tan cord that Lan did not recognize. That looked nothing like the cord he had for Megaman’s PET…

“Anyways, I admit today may get a little…uncomfortable, considering who we’ll be working with. The rest of the group will be coming in later, but for now, it’s you, me, and the NetOps we’ve rescued,” Iris explained.

“…I can’t just leave it up to you?” Lan asked in a small voice, looking away from Iris.

“I think some of them will recover faster if you help them,” Iris responded, setting the cord off to the side and walking with Lan over to the room holding the recovered Operators.

Pride and Tesla were standing a ways from the others, talking to someone on their PETs.

“…I’m fine, Belmont, I promise. I can’t come home for a while, there’s something important I need to do…” Pride assured.

“No, Jack, you don’t need to throw a ‘welcome back’ party, I won’t be home for a while…no, I’m not being held hostage again, don’t worry. I’ll come straight home once everything’s okay…” Tesla tried to explain, running a hand through her hair.

Charlie was trying to read a book, occasionally looking at Tesla once in a while; Miyabi was standing away from everyone else, looking through his PET; Dingo and Fyrefox were quietly talking to each other, looking up to see Lan and Iris enter the room; and Mayl, Yai, Dex, Laika, and Higsby were all unconscious, leaned up against a wall close to Pride and Tesla.

“Alright…who do you want to start with?” Iris asked.

“…Yai,” Lan responded. “One of her friends contacted me today, and…I know it’s wrong of me to get mad at you for telling mom about this mess, only for me to go and tell someone I’ve met a few times, but…I don’t feel like I should try to leave her out of this.”

“…I understand,” Iris murmured, raising one hand. Yai slowly opened her eyes, looking around. To Lan’s relief, her eyes were starting to return to their normal color.

“…where am I?” Yai quietly asked.

“SciLabs. Yai…do you know who Mary Towa is?” Lan carefully asked. Yai’s eyes widened, eye color flickering to brown for a brief moment.

“Mary! Oh, gosh, I haven’t talked to her in forever, she must be worried sick about me!” she realized.

“She is,” Lan confirmed, and Yai’s expression turned into an upset one.

“Where is she? Lan, I need to see her again and tell her I’m okay!” Yai asked, voice rising in pitch.

“I promise I’ll bring her here. Don’t worry, Yai, you’ll see her again,” Lan promised.

“Do you want to go back to sleep?” Iris offered. Yai nodded, and within moments she was back to unconsciousness.

“We have somewhere to start with Yai…maybe Mayl, next?” Lan suggested.

“…I have to warn you, she might be hostile. I tried to talk with her last night, Pride had to restrain her. Are you sure?” Iris asked.

Lan looked at Mayl, the pink-haired girl sound asleep. He couldn’t avoid her forever…

“…wake her up, please,” Lan answered.

“…okay. Waking up Mayl…” Iris responded, raising a hand towards Mayl. She opened her eyes, looking around until she saw Lan. Her red eyes narrowed, her body tensing up.

“…Mayl?” Lan gulped, beginning to back away.

“Lan…you…” Mayl began, shakily standing up and stepping towards Lan. Tesla grabbed her in an instant, refusing to let her try to hurt him.

“Back down, Mayl. He isn’t your enemy,” she ordered.

“He replaced us! He left us to be hurt by Doctor Regal! Why should I have any trust in him?!” Mayl shouted.

Iris looked nervously towards Lan, then Mayl. “This might’ve been a mistake…!”

“…I’m sorry, Mayl,” Lan quietly apologized, causing Mayl to pause and blink in surprise.

“You’re sorry?” she repeated.

“I’ve been a bad friend, and I’m sorry. I’ve tried to keep you, Dex, and Yai out of danger ever since the whole Life Virus event, and look what’s happened. Then I went and dragged in a bunch of other people I know, and…well, it’s been a big mess. I didn’t try to replace  _any_  of you, I was worried about all of you. Mayl, I’m sorry I’ve been a bad friend,” Lan explained, sounding increasingly pained as he went on.

Mayl’s expression softened, the fight draining out of her. “…Lan…”

“…Tesla, try letting her go for a few moments,” Iris prompted. Tesla reluctantly let Mayl go, prepared to grab her again if she had to. Mayl simply stared at Lan, eyes wide.

“…he told me you wouldn’t apologize…he told me you didn’t regret anything you did…” she whispered.

“He’s wrong, then. I just want to keep you guys safe…” Lan responded.

Mayl slowly sat back down, head in her hands. “…I feel so stupid. Why did I listen to him?”

“It’s happened before,” Tesla responded. “He’s tried to lie to some of us, and it’s easy to believe him when you’re hyped up on dark chip power. You’re not alone in this.”

“Mayl, I’m going to put you back to sleep, okay?” Iris asked. Mayl slowly nodded, and was fast asleep again soon enough. Iris and Tesla both sighed in relief.

“Thank goodness that worked. Tesla, thanks for helping there,” Iris thanked. Tesla simply nodded in response.

“What next?” Lan asked, eyeing the rest of the group warily.

“We’re going to take a quick break, then try to work with Dex, Laika, and Higsby. Once the others come over, we’ll talk a little with Dingo and Fyrefox. I guess for now, step outside the room?” Iris suggested. Lan shrugged, then exited the room.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to apologize to both the Megaman and the MMBN tags for updating so frequently lately. I've been on a roll lately with writing :'D

Shun, Mamoru, and Tamako arrived at SciLabs a little while after Lan had arrived, debating over sword chips.

“Wide Sword is better because it can hit a wider area, Long Sword can only hit the space in front of it and behind it. Plus, Long Sword is weaker in terms of power,” Shun was arguing.

“But say there was a virus that took up more than one space, then Long Sword could deal twice the damage to it! Even more with Long Blade!” Mamoru pointed out.

“Even so–oh, hey Lan,” Shun greeted, noticing Lan standing outside the room holding the other Operators.

“Hey, guys. Iris and I started working with Mayl and Yai to try opening up their hearts a little before you got here,” Lan informed.

“How’d it go? Are those two okay?” Tamako asked.

“Yai’s worried about not being in contact with one of her friends, and Mayl is…more or less starting to understand I didn’t try to replace her. And uh…I think we might have a possible ally soon,” Lan answered.

“Who?” the three NetOps asked at once, confused.

“Mary Towa. Her NetNavi is Ring.EXE, and I think she could help us, but…well, she has a…Megaman, what did she say it was?” Lan asked his NetNavi.

“A pacemaker. She said she had problems with her heart,” Megaman answered.

Tamako and Mamoru looked at each other, uneasy looks on their face. “…Lan, we’d really need to discuss this with Iris first. I’m all for people who can help us and all, but…” Tamako reminded.

“No, I’m not suggesting crossfusion for her to help us, but…well, if we can fuse with our Navis in Dimensional Areas, maybe there’s a possibility she could just summon her Navi and use battle chips in Dimensional Areas?” Lan clarified.

“We’d have to talk about that later, then. We still need to work with some of the people we got back, so…let’s get to work,” Mamoru prompted. Lan led the three inside, noticing Laika had been separated from the rest of the group. Iris, Pride, Tesla, Miyabi, and Charlie were standing by.

“We’re going to deal with Laika last. I don’t want to take any chances with a soldier from Sharo,” Iris declared.

“So then it’s Dex, then Higsby, then Laika? This sounds easy enough, but…” Lan mumbled.

“Don’t forget Dingo and Fyrefox. I want to make sure they’re alright,” Iris reminded.

“I won’t. Let’s wake up Dex,” Lan prompted. Iris raised a hand towards Dex, and he soon woke up. Dex squinted as he looked around, yawning.

“Where am I?” he wondered, voice drowsy.

“You’re in SciLabs. Dex, it’s…it’s me, Lan Hikari. Are you okay?” Lan asked. Dex scowled, looking away from Lan.

“Why should I talk to you? Doctor Regal said you replaced us. You’ve never really cared about us, have you?” Dex accused.

“No, I haven’t! Dex, ever since W3 did all that nonsense with the Life Virus, I’ve been trying to keep you guys safe, but I feel like I failed this time,” Lan responded, pained. “I didn’t know what to do when you guys were gone. It took Iris offering her help to get me working to see you guys again.”

Dex didn’t look entirely convinced, though his scowl slowly turned into a sad frown. “…even if you tried to get us back, it doesn’t matter. Look at you compared to us; you’ve saved the world several times, you’re one of the best Netbattlers ever,  _you’re a hero_ , and Yai, Mayl and I are just…‘Lan’s friends’. I can’t even beat you in a fight, crossfused or just Navi vs Navi. We’re never going to be as good as you, are we?”

Lan felt pained listening to Dex, glancing at Iris for a brief moment. “…but you three are brave. You’ve followed me into some really dangerous places, and no matter how many times Gutsman lost to Megaman, he always got back up, didn’t he? You two never stopped trying to beat Megaman, why do you want to stop now? Dex, I don’t want you two to start giving up now. Please.”

“…I’ll…I’ll try not to give up,” Dex responded, finally looking back at Lan. Lan sighed heavily in relief.

“Do you want to go back to sleep, Dex?” Iris asked. Dex nodded, and Iris used her power to send him back to sleep.

“…okay, how the heck can you do that?” Tamako asked, eyeing Iris suspiciously. “That isn’t something I see everyday.”

“It’s just…a power I have. I don’t really know how I got it, but one day I just…had it,” Iris tried to explain.

“Maybe she’s like a superhero? She could have been affected by all that weird radation when Gospel created…er, Gospel?” Lan suggested. Everyone in the room looked at Lan as though he had just suggested personally storming Nebula HQ to rescue the remaining kidnapped Operators.

“…Lan, I highly doubt that prolonged exposure to radiation like that would seriously…” Shun began.

“…well, you never really know, given the kind of world we live in. If I could become the admin of the Undernet when I’m still young enough to be in elementary school, it could be possible she did get powers from radiation,” Mamoru pointed out.

“…er…how about we just start trying to help Higsby next?” Iris suggested, preparing to wake Higsby up.

“Y-Yeah, let’s go ahead and do that,” Lan decided. Higsby woke up, eyes still bright red. The adults stepped forward, prepared to hold Higsby back in the event he attempted to attack Lan.

“…what do you want, huh?” Higsby asked, a hint of apathy in his voice.

“Higsby, I just want to talk to you. Are you…okay?” Lan questioned in turn.

Higsby sighed, drooping. “…I don’t know, huh. I thought if I listened to Doctor Regal, everything would be okay…I feel like I’ve done something awful, huh.”

“You haven’t done anything bad. No one was hurt at End City, people were more or less scared, but…you and Laika didn’t do anything too bad,” Lan assured.

“…I used dark chips, though. Wily…Wily once told World Three and I to never use them, huh. I remember him gathering all of us at the base and saying that if we used them, we would only be hurting ourselves and our Navis, huh,” Higsby recalled.

“But you didn’t choose to use dark chips. Regal forced you, and almost everyone else in this room, to use them. You’re not as bad as you think you are,” Lan assured.

Higsby reluctantly nodded, sighing again. “Can I just go back to sleep now, huh?”

Iris nodded, using her power to send Higsby back to sleep. Once he was asleep, she looked back towards the others, noticing their surprised expressions.

“Wily went out of his way to tell at least the people Higsby was partnered with in World Three about dark chips? How does he know about them?” Tamako pondered.

“Didn’t he say anything to Gospel about them?” Lan asked, looking at the former Gospel members.

“No. I guess either he forgot to tell us, assumed we would never use them, or just flat-out didn’t care,” Shun admitted.

“Maybe Wily and Regal are connected somehow. Father and son, perhaps?” Tamako joked.

“We’ll have to dig into that later. We have Laika next…” Iris warned. The adults prepared to grab Laika, Lan taking a few steps back.

“Ready when you are, Iris,” Pride prompted. Iris raised a hand towards Laika, and he slowly opened his eyes. He fixed a glare on Lan, preparing to charge at him.

“Hold him back!” Iris ordered, and the group of adults immediately pinned Laika to the wall before he could hurt Lan.

“Let me go! Let me go!” Laika shouted, struggling to free himself.

“Okay, this was a bad idea, we need to put him back to sleep–”

“No! Let me try to talk to him!” Lan interrupted Charlie. He gingerly took a few steps towards Laika, trying to figure out what to say to him. Laika continued to struggle for a few moments, before eventually giving up when he realized he was getting nowhere.

“…what do you want, Hikari? Isn’t it enough you ruined my life?” he spat.

“…I wanted to apologize. Laika, I had no idea what I did would have hurt you,” Lan responded.

“You’re lying! Master Regal said you knew what you were doing!” Laika retorted.

“No, I didn’t! Laika, in case you’ve forgotten,  _I’m not from Sharo_ , I don’t know what it’s like there. I didn’t realize what you went through back home. I’m sorry…” Lan apologized.

Laika’s gaze softened for a moment, taken back by the apology. “…you’re actually…apologizing?”

“Whatever Regal said about me being a jerk and anything like that…he was lying, okay? I wouldn’t ever do something intentionally to hurt people, I promise. Can you forgive me?” Lan asked.

Laika looked as though he was actually considering it, looking away from Lan. “…I’ll…accept your apology…” he reluctantly answered.

“Laika, do you mind if I put you back to sleep?” Iris asked. Laika nodded, and Iris put him back into unconsciousness once the group of adults let him go.

“That was…stressful, to say the least,” Pride commented, trying to relax.

“We just have Dingo and Fyrefox to talk with. I think they’ll be easier, though we haven’t really gotten around to talk with them…” Iris noted.

Lan walked up to Dingo and Fyrefox, the two having watched Lan talk with the other recovered Operators. “Uh…hey, Dingo, Fyrefox. Are you two doing alright?”

Dingo nodded. “Yeah. Feeling a little woozy, but I’m okay.”

“I’m alright,” Fyrefox confirmed. “I’ve been better, though.”

“Good to hear. I’m sorry I haven’t really gotten around to talking with you guys today…” Lan apologized.

“You’ve been apologizing to almost everyone here today. Plus, you and the others have been busy, yeah? I just hope everything’s going smoothly,” Dingo responded.

“We just have four people to rescue, then we need to do something about Regal. Do you guys have any ideas?” Lan asked.

“No, but…Lan, right? Be careful with Regal, there’s a good reason he was able to kidnap several Operators,” Fyrefox warned.

“I will, I promise!” Lan responded, brightly.

“Alright. Good luck on recovering the last four! I know you can help them!” Dingo cheered.

“Hehe, thank you, Dingo!” Lan thanked, smiling.

–

Back at Nebula HQ, Regal was fiddling with Ribitta’s PET, attempting to input some sort of data with an irritated look on his face. A grunt poked their head into his room.

“You called, dude? I mean, sir? You called, Master Regal, dude? Regal? Master Regal, sir?” they asked.

"Yes, I called. I need help getting location data into this  _stupid_  PET. Why do they feel the need to upgrade the models so quickly? The older model a few months ago was just fine!” Regal grumbled, shoving the PET into the grunt’s face.

“No problem, dude! I mean, of course Master Regal!” the grunt responded, beginning to input the data into the PET. The room was near-quiet for a few moments, the only sounds the humming of machinery and computers alongside the grunt pressing buttons, until the grunt paused.

“…sir, isn’t this…”

“What is it? I asked you to input data on a PET, it’s not a very hard task,” Regal questioned, scowling.

“Why do you want this PET to show the location for Elec Town?” the grunt asked.

“You’ll know later, like the rest of your co-workers. Now do you want to do as you’re told, Johnson, or do you want to find yourself out of a job like Barrett and Teisel?” Regal snapped.

The grunt yelped, quickly pressing buttons. “Th-There, it’s done, dude! I mean sir! I mean–”

“Oh, just get out and get that PET to that woman!” Regal ordered. The grunt fled from the room with the PET, leaving Regal to plop down in his chair, rubbing his temples.

“Relax, Regal, soon you’ll have control of the world, and you won’t have to deal with these nosy little workers…”

–

Back at SciLabs, Iris gathered the team in her office, Sherrice and Kai finally arriving. Lan was trying to explain to Iris that Mary could be a good candidate for the team.

“…the only problem we have, though, is her pacemaker. I don’t think it would be safe for her to crossfuse,” Lan explained. “I was thinking, since the Dimensional Areas allow us to fuse with our Navis, could she just summon hers and use battle chips?”

“Well…the problem is, I don’t think it’s that simple. While it  _is_ possible to just summon your Navi in a Dimensional Area, the biggest concern would be actually sending chips to the Navi. It isn’t possible to send chips over to Navis in Dimensional Areas,” Iris explained.

“It isn’t? And, uh…what were the Dimensional Areas intended for, again?” Sherrice asked.

“Originally, to allow humans and NetNavis to interact, removing the barrier of the PET. It was meant for a more peaceful purpose than what Regal’s using it for,” Iris responded.

“So what can we do? Have you found a way around that?” Kai asked.

“Well…IPC was working with SciLabs to come up with a workaround in the event two Navis wanted to fight in a Dimensional Area; the Battle Chip Gate. It can activate some chips as standalone obstacles along with sending chips to Navis. Sadly, we only have one, and even then it’s a prototype…” Iris explained.

“Mary is someone we can trust,” Lan assured. “I think she’s worth giving the Battle Chip Gate to.”

“I’ll trust you on that, Lan. Let me fetch it,” Iris decided, hurrying off. It took a few minutes for her to return with something that looked like a long rectangle, with a place at the top of it to insert a PET. She handed the device to Lan.

“Where is she at?” Iris asked.

“Den Town. Can you guys come with me in the event we get attacked again?” Lan asked. The group nodded, and proceeded to head towards Den Town.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter came a little slow due to Father's Day stuff, getting into Xenoblade, a Steven Universe marathon, and me discovering that it was getting close to Monty Oum's birthday when I started finishing up this chapter. I chose to hold off posting this one so I could post it on his birthday today. I admit I really look up to him (not in terms of how he worked, I would not recommend what he did), and I hope he's resting in peace now.
> 
> And once again, I had to use saber-chan's design for crossfusion, as sadly we didn't get Ribitta crossfusing with Toadman. Her design is located at saber-chan.tumblr.com/post/63857880185. Credit to her for her design, and follow her on Tumblr if you like Megaman and Xenoblade.

Lan stepped out of the Metroline and into Den Town, looking up at the buildings reaching into the sky. He felt a bit of nostalgia coming back to this place again, realizing he hadn’t been here since Ms. Madd tampered with the traffic lights.

“This place brings back a lot of memories, doesn’t it Master Lan?” Kai asked as the group caught up to Lan.

“Yeah, it does. There was that whole bus and traffic light incident…” Lan responded, nodding.

“Wasn’t that one of the things World 3 did along with making ovens and stoves catch on fire?  That almost feels like forever ago,” Sherrice noted.

“Mm-hm! I was actually on a bus with one of Master Lan’s friends when he saved us from it exploding! I…didn’t really know Mayl back then, though,” Kai pointed out.

“You were in the bus with her? Weren’t you scared?” Iris asked, surprised.

“Yeah, I was pretty scared. It  _did_  inspire me to try to become like Master Lan, though!” Kai responded, brightly.

“So…where’s Mary?” Shun wondered, glancing around.

“Probably around the apartment area. I think it’s southeast of here. Let’s go!” Lan prompted, leading the group to the southeastern area of the city. For a moment, Lan felt as though he was being watched, though he couldn’t see anyone staring at him…it was probably just his imagination.

“DenTown seems a lot busier than End City. They don’t look as scared about being kidnapped,” Tamako commented.

“Maybe they don’t think it concerns them? Or maybe rumors are getting around about the Operators being rescued,” Shun suggested.

“I hope it’s the rumor bit!” Lan commented. “I wish things would start looking up a little. We’re saving people…”

“We can only hope,” Iris murmured. The group soon spotted a young blonde girl dressed in pink, a brightly colored PET in her hands.

“…he’s an Official Netbattler! I know he has to be okay…” she was trying to explain to, presumably, her Navi. The girl sounded pained.

“Is that Mary?” Tamako asked Lan. He nodded in response, beginning to walk over to her.

“Mary! Heeey! Mary!” Lan called. The girl yelped and flinched, looking up at Lan. She took a few breaths to calm herself down when she realized it was him.

“Please don’t scare me like that, I really don’t like being frightened…it’s nice to see you again, Lan,” Mary greeted.

“Is that Lan? Hey, Lan! Remember me, I’m Ring.EXE?” the Navi in the PET greeted. This Navi was dressed in bright colors, though Lan winced when she saw her glossy red eyes.

“Y-Yeah, I remember you. Hey, Ring,” Lan greeted, voice shaking for a moment. Mary raised her eyebrows, first at Lan’s voice, then at the group approaching the two.

“So this is Mary?” Iris asked Lan as she walked up to him.

“Yup!” Lan confirmed, nodding. “Mary, these guys are my friends!”

“I’m Mary Towa,” Mary greeted, holding out her hand for Iris to shake.

“I’m Iris. It’s nice to meet you, Mary,” Iris greeted, shaking Mary’s hand. “Can I ask what Lan told you?”

“He just said he’d explain later. Lan, is Yai okay?” Mary asked, nervously.

“…no, not really,” Lan admitted, gripping his arm and staring at the ground. “She was hurt when she was kidnapped. We got her back, and she’s recovering, but…I think she would recover better if you were there.”

“Hurt? Hurt how?” Mary pressed.

“Her emotions were manipulated so she would fight Lan. She didn’t do anything too serious, and she’s beginning to recover…it’s honestly easier to explain when we get back to SciLabs,” Iris admitted.

“Then I want to see Yai. Please,” Mary asked. “I want to make sure she’s safe.”

“Follow us! She’s at SciLabs, I’m sure she’ll be overjoyed to see you!” Lan prompted. The group proceeded to return to the Metroline, and Lan couldn’t shake the feeling he was being watched again.

The group boarded the Metroline. Lan did his best to explain the situation at hand to Mary, the blonde unable to resist staring at Lan in shock when he explained what the dark chips had done to the people who had been kidnapped.

“So Chaud…is he going to attack you when you find him?” Mary asked in a frightened voice.

“It’s more than likely at this point,” Iris confirmed, sadly. “I don’t want to keep having to subdue the people Regal has taken away, but what can I do? We have to do what we have to do.”

“And you want me to help you guys? I can’t do this crossfusion stuff…” Mary reminded, looking down at her PET.

“We have a way for you to help. SciLabs and IPC were working together to develop a way for people to Netbattle in Dimensional Areas if they wanted, and they came up with the Battle Chip Gate. If you join us, you’ll use that instead of Synchro Chips,” Iris informed.

“So it’ll just be me giving orders and chips to Ring like usual?” Mary summarized.

“Yep!” Lan confirmed. “Will that be okay?”

“I…I guess? This feels kind of sudden,” Mary admitted. “What about my parents? Do I have to tell them?”

The kids had varying levels of “My parent/parents do not know and I don’t know how to bring it up to them” looks on their faces, while Tamako awkwardly looked off to the side.

“…how are you guys keeping this a secret?” Mary asked, jaw nearly dropping.

“Well, Lan’s mom knows. It was an accident,” Iris replied.

“If I count as a guardian or parent, I was drafted in because I watched Lan’s friends fight him. Plus, Regal apparently wanted to kidnap me as well?” Tamako tried to explain.

The group entered SciLabs and walked to the room holding the recovered Operators. Mayl, Dex, Yai, Higsby, and Laika were awake and appeared to be doing okay, as evidenced by them not lashing out at the sight of Lan.

“Yai! We brought a visitor!” Lan called. Yai looked over at the bunch of people entering the room, and gasped in surprise when she saw Mary.

“Mary!” Yai squealed, running over to Mary.

“Yai! Mon Dieu, vous êtes en sécurité!” Mary happily greeted, hugging Yai.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I was kidnapped, and I was so scared, I thought I would never see you again!” Yai apologized, eyes growing wet with tears.

“Lan told me! Did Regal hurt you?” Mary asked.

“Sort of, but I’m okay, Mary!” Yai reassured.

Iris and Lan couldn’t help but smile at seeing the two girls be overjoyed at their reunion, Mary almost crying at seeing Yai was safe. At that moment, Megaman called, “Email, Lan! It’s from Ribitta!”

The atmosphere in the room turned from happy to worrying at the mention of Ribitta, a few eyes on Lan. He quickly pulled out his PET, looking at the email.

To: Lan Hikari  
From: Ribitta Kero

lan lan lan LAAAN!! when you get this message meet me at scilabs plz!!! i escaped from nebula with two other operators, we’re scared of nebula finding us!

“…Ribitta escaped from Nebula? How?” Lan wondered.

“Lan, it might be a trap,” Iris warned, glancing at the email. “We don’t even know where Nebula’s base is, how would they have escaped…?”

“And these two ‘other’ Operators…if it’s following the pattern they were kidnapped, are we going to face Baryl or Chaud…?” Mamoru wondered.

“…we’ll have to go and see,” Lan decided. The main team headed to the entrance of SciLabs, noticing three figures close to the Metroline. Ribitta was standing with some girl dressed in white Lan didn’t recognize, and there was a familiar woman lying on the ground…

“Is that…Yuriko?!” Lan gasped.

“Lan!” Ribitta called. “We’re over here! We rescued some lady that was being held prisoner!”

“Ribitta, is everything okay? Your eyes…” Lan began, hesitantly. Despite Ribitta’s friendly demeanor…her eyes were just as red as every other dark chip-infected Operator he had come across, her skin pale. The girl beside her was no better, eyes and all. Yuriko was unconscious, and when Lan squinted, he could see she was tied up.

“Everything is  _just_  fine, Lan!” Ribitta assured, smiling and closing her eyes. “Come on over here!”

Lan glanced nervously at his friends, reaching for his PET. “…Ribitta, you’re not…you’re not really free from Nebula, are you?”

Ribitta opened her eyes, smile dissolving into a frustrated pout. “You’re not as easy to trick as Master Regal said you were!”

“Of course he wasn’t,” the girl next to her grumbled. “This whole thing was doomed from the start.”

“We had a chance, Jasmine! I guess we need to wear him out before we drag him to Master Regal!” Ribitta decided as she and Jasmine took out their PETs. The rest of Iris’s team hurried to Lan’s side, grabbing their PETs as well.

“Neither of you have to do this!” Iris shouted. “Regal is using you two! Please, think about what you’re trying to do!”

“Why should I? He’s cared more about what I had to say than anyone else! At least he cares!” Ribitta retorted.

“He doesn’t…Ribitta, he doesn’t care!” Lan tried to correct, but Ribitta shook her head.

“There’s no use in reasoning, is there?” Miyu asked, reaching for her Synchro Chip. “Much like Higsby and Laika…”

“Let’s get this over and done with, I don’t want to hurt them for too long!” Tamako prompted as she and the rest of the group grabbed their Synchro Chips. Jasmine slotted in a chip, and a Dimensional Area formed around the group.

“You’ll regret this!” she warned as she and Ribitta grabbed their Synchro Chips.

“Synchro Chip, slot in!” the Operators who could crossfuse shouted, suddenly covered in glowing white light. Mary simply summoned Ring.EXE to the field, taking a few wary steps back as the light died down.

Miyu was now covered in white armor, skulls decorating her shoulders and her hat gone. Thin orange pieces of metal covered her arms and legs, while her hands and feet were dressed in red and white. A white, skull-like shield appeared in her hands, and Skullman’s Navi symbol formed on her chest, finishing her transformation.

Jasmine’s crossfused outfit heavily reminded Mary of a nurse’s outfit, save for the color scheme now blue all over, her hair done up in pigtails and her Navi emblem on her hat. Ribitta now wore a purple, orange, and blue-colored dress, a toad-like hat on her head, a microphone in her hands, and her Navi emblem on her chest.

“Ribitta, please think about this…” Lan cautioned as he and the others finished fusing with their Navis.

“I don’t need to think about it!” Ribitta shouted into her microphone, giant music notes appearing and launching themselves at Lan’s group. Everyone yelped and scrambled to avoid the sudden attack.

“Master Regal promised me he could cure my grandfather if I brought you back!” Jasmine snapped. “I’m not about to let that pass me by!”

“We’re going to have to consider tactics beyond 'running at them and shooting their emblems’,” Shun realized, gritting his teeth.

“I’ll try to get Ribitta’s attention away, you guys go after Jasmine,” Lan volunteered.

“Lan, no, you need to stay with us,” Sherrice pointed out.

“I’ll be fine!” Lan insisted. “I just have to get out of the way before those giant music notes hit me, right? That’s not too hard!”

“But…fine, go after her. Be careful, Lan,” Sherrice warned. Lan nodded, and dashed towards Ribitta while the rest of the group ran towards Jasmine.

“Hey! Ribitta! Regal is just using you!” Lan shouted. “Deep down, you have to know that!”

“You’re a liar, Lan Hikari!” Ribitta shouted in return, trying to hit Lan with the music notes spawning. “Clearly you’ve never met Master Regal!”

“Oh, I’ve met him! He’s nothing but a scumbag! He was willing to sabotage what my father did just so he could get the credit for saving the world!” Lan fired back.

“Your father’s weak! He was willing to give up vital information after a few hours of torture!” Ribitta taunted. Lan hesitated at the mention of his father, eyes wide. He cried out in pain as the music notes crashed into him, knocking him off his feet.

“Aw, what’s the matter, Lan? Do you miss your dad? Don’t worry, you’ll see him again real soon!” Ribitta commented, taking a step towards him. Lan scrambled to get back up, gritting his teeth.

“Sorry, Ribitta, but I think I’ll pass. I hope you’ll forgive me for this…!” he responded, running at Ribitta. Lan aimed his buster and started firing, Ribitta trying to shield her emblem.

“Get back! Stay away from me!” Ribitta shouted, trying to hit Lan with the musical notes. “I can’t let you win!”

Lan tackled Ribitta, the reporter shrieking as she was knocked to the ground. Lan quickly fired his buster at Ribitta’s emblem, getting off her once the job was done.

“Y…You…” Ribitta gasped, looking up at Lan with wide eyes. “Why…?”

“I’m sorry!” Lan apologized as her crossfusion came undone and she fainted, PET in her hands.

Jasmine was firing purple and red capsules at the rest of the team, trying to ward off anyone from reaching her. Shun was trying to keep up his ice shield until they figured out how to deal with the capsules.

“We should just rush her!” Ring argued. “There’s no way she could take on all of us at once!”

“Those capsules might do something to us, though!” Kai pointed out.

“We have to take a risk, as much as I hate to admit it,” Tamako mumbled. “She probably can’t hit us all with those capsules at once…”

Shun glanced over at Jasmine, ducking at a capsule lobbed at his head. “We’d better charge fast, she’s waiting for us to slip up!”

“On the count of three! One! Two…” Tamako began.

“Three!” Ring shouted. The ice shield broke as the group of crossfused Operators and Navi charged at Jasmine, the girl yelping as she crashed to the ground. Ring aimed her buster at Jasmine’s Navi emblem.

“You’re finished!” she declared as she fired. The Navi emblem shattered, and Jasmine was separated from her Navi. Her PET landed beside her as she glared up at the others.

“You…You’ll pay for this…” she warned as she passed out. The Dimensional Area fell apart, and the rest of the group returned to normal, with Ring returning to Mary’s PET. Iris cautiously approached Yuriko.

“She didn’t wake up during the fight…I wonder why they brought her here,” she noted as Lan ran over to Yuriko.

“Why did Regal kidnap her? Could she have been crossfusion compatible too?” Lan wondered.

“…I’ll make sure she’s taken care of. Lan, you and the others should head home for now, I’ll send a message if anything comes up,” Iris decided, looking up at Lan.

“Alright…” Lan decided.

“Oh, and Mary? I’m sorry for suddenly dropping you into the fight like that,” Iris apologized. “I should be more considerate about what you do with us, all things considered.”

“Apology accepted,” Mary responded. “Are there going to be anymore fights like that one?”

“At least one more. I don’t know what we’re going to do about Regal yet…” Iris admitted as the rest of the group left SciLab’s grounds. Mary reluctantly nodded before heading back to the Metroline to go home. Iris started dragging in the three unconscious Operators.

–

Regal slowly opened the door to Baryl’s room. He grinned when he saw the man curled up on his side, back turned towards the door and his head in his hands.

“M…Make it stop…make it stop…” Baryl pleaded.

“Why should I? It’s amusing to see you like this,” Regal responded. Baryl flinched, rolling onto his side to see his adopted brother.

“You… _you_ …” he mumbled, half-growling, half-terrified of what might happen next.

“Oh, relax. I wonder if it was worth it to give you these little moments to see what you’ve become,” Regal pondered.

“I don’t want to be like this! I don’t want to be a monster!” Baryl shouted as he pushed himself into a sitting position. “Please! Let me go, Regal!”

“I see no reason in doing that, XD001,” Regal answered, grinning at calling Baryl by that name. “I still need you. You and that silly little heir to IPC are my last tools to use.”

“I’M NOT XD001!” Baryl yelled, his voice growing hoarse and his eyes beginning to glow red again. Regal simply watched as Baryl gritted his teeth and tried to charge at him, hissing in pain when his collar stopped him just a short distance away from the door.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll see this is for the better soon, XD001,” Regal simply responded, leaving the room and slamming the door shut behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Mon Dieu, vous êtes en sécurité!" : "My god, you are safe!"


End file.
